Well loyal blog readers, we have reached the end of the cyber road. This will be the final virtual word put out by Heather, Amanda and Tiffany. Living together for the past 12 months has been silly, fun, emotional, happy, sad, exciting, boring and, above all, memorable! Sprinkled throughout this blog you will see snapshots from our last full weekend together as we enjoyed the good eatin' of the Eat Rite Diner and our last evening at the Arch together.

Tiffany's Moment
Ah the infamous camping excursion. In late October, the three of us set out to rough it for a few days at a state park about an hour out of St. Louis. Of course, roughing it required two coolers overflowing with food and snacks, about a million blankets and a lot of borrowed camping gear that we had no idea how to use. The weekend is a fantastic memory for all of us. Getting lost on a 1.5 mile hiking trail, failing to ignite our camp fire (don't worry, our camping neighbors came over and doused our "fire" with lighter fluid), attempting to make campfire food (Mmm, burnt potato egg moosh!) and late nights around the smoldering logs we called our campfire talking about all our thoughts, hopes, ideas and adventures.

Amanda's Moment
Nothing says good times like a wild animal in the basement. Who could forget the pigeon in the basement episode. After a night of hearing strange noises coming from our basement, it was time to free whatever creature was bumping around down there. So the three of us plus our friend Clay (you better be reading this from Seattle buddy!) donned hats and gloves, grabbed the nearest weapon (brooms, sticks, tennis rackets) and descended to the basement. There we discovered an entrapped pigeon flying around in a panic. After several minutes of intense chasing, the frightened bird was captured in what could only be described as a miraculous grab by Clay. The bird was set free and the three of us gained a new respect for our bird wrangling friend. (Scroll down our blog to see the original entry of this event!)

Heather's Moment(s)
Always the rebel, Heather had to have two moments. First up, the Christmas letter photo shoot. We decided in early fall to send a Christmas letter and photo to our friends and family since we're probably the cutest VSers ever. So as the leaves were turning, the three of us set out to Tower Grove Park to have Dan (our former housemate) capture us at our most adorable. The photo shoot lasted quite awhile and produced over 200 pictures, 10 of which were mildly acceptable to us. In the end, we had a fantastic Christmas letter and a whole bunch of hilarious pictures to remind us of how photogenic we are.
and a half in that line before we were reunited. The four of us spent the rest of that morning bravely battling lines, traffic and more than a fewNext, black Friday. The three of us had decided to be adventurous and join the throngs of people in search of the best door-busting deals on black Friday (the day after Thanksgiving). We left the house at 3:30 AM, determined to be the most hard-core Holiday shoppers you've ever seen. Like buffalo hunters armed with BB guns, we quickly found ourselves way out of our league. We walked into Kohls at 4:10 AM and found the lines already making their way around the circumference of the store. By the time we were ready to check-out, at about 4:50, the lines circled the outer limits of the building....twice. Our neighbor, Tina, bearing a considerably larger armload than the three of us, bravely volunteered to wait while the three of us explored the next stop on our list of conquests. Tina (bless her sales-driven heart) waited for an hour frightening female elbow-throwers. We went home that day at about 10:30 (do the math, that's 6.5 hours of shopping) with some great buys, great stories and great plans to sleep in next black Friday.

The End...And Beginning
So here we are, bidding you all adieu. VS has been a huge experience for all of us. We can happily set off on our next adventures...

As is consistent with our summer thus far, our schedule this week kept us busy. This week in particular though, we were reminded of why we like St. Louis so much and what makes our community here so special.

The Move
On Thursday, Amanda's friend from home, Chelsea, flew in for a visit. No sooner had she arrived than an opportunity for Amanda and Heather to get free furniture also presented itself. Clay, a good friend of ours, recently moved to Seattle to do VS and before he left, he told Amanda and Heather that he had a plethora of free stuff for them. But since the items (a futon, coffee table, TV, etc.) weren't likely to fit into our little Honda Civic, Amanda and Heather's free stuff sat waiting. However, Thursday night, a truck was offered to them and they took it. And that's how Tiffany, Heather, Amanda and Chelsea ended up in a St. Louis suburb at 9:30 at night, feeling our manliest after hauling and loading furniture for an hour. It was more work than any of us anticipated (especially poor Chelsea who had anticipated a relaxing evening after traveling all day) but we did eventually get everything home. And now, though it looks like our house is an indoor garage sale, Amanda and Heather have a lovely little start for their apartment.

The Weekend
Our weekend was filled with St. Louis classics. We started on Friday with a Muny show which was fantastic and fun. We followed that treat with another: frozen custard from (where else?) Ted Drewes. On Saturday, we took Chelsea to our local farmers market, a great love of ours, and ended the day with a free concert at the Arch. On Sunday, of course, Chelsea got to meet some of St. Louis's finest: the St. Louis Mennonite Fellowship. Our church has been doing summer "Olympics" for the past few weeks and this Sunday the event was giant Dutch Blitz. It was an injury-laden good time. Though the Yellow team triumphed (the Green team however, is in the lead overall) everyone went away smiling...even if they were also limping. We spent Sunday afternoon with friends we invited over for a barbecue lunch and then a movie. We used some of our Ed/Rec money to see "Mamma Mia." Truthfully, our absolute and total elation over the greatness of this movie is just mildly embarrassing. But if you ask us about it, don't mock us for falling in love with this exuberant, flamboyant, brilliant, masterful, beautiful, bubbly movie.

Isn't It Nice?
Yes, our city is great. There are funky little places to eat and play like the City Museum or Blueberry Hill and old classics like the Muny that are always brilliant. But what we like even better than the fun we find in the city, is the family we find every Sunday. We might run into them (literally) during an "Olympic" event, or we might be invited over for dinner during the week. We might discuss church doctrine or social issues in Sunday School or talk about mundane VS financial issues. We might offer to babysit or be offered free furniture. Whether we're sharing their joy, pain, panic or possessions or they're sharing ours, it is the fact that we are together throughout that makes sharing seem natural. And that's what's so nice about St. Louis.

Life Decisions
As we move through decision-making for our post-unit life, there have ups and downs, breakthroughs and breakdowns.

Heather and Amanda
Apartment hunting has taken up a large amount of time for 2/3 of our unit. Amanda and Heather scouted out innumerable apartments, all with differing pros and cons. But after months of hunting and hours of discussions, visits and phone calls, they reached a decision this week. They will be moving into a lovely 2 bedroom, 1 bath apartment just a few blocks from the our unit house. (So for anyone considering MVS in St. Louis, you'll have some great neighbors!) They are very excited for little perks like planting a small garden and owning a pet.

Tiffany
Tiffany continues to be a craigslist junkie as she job hunts for employment in the Corvallis, OR area. She spends a lot of her time communicating with her future room-mates, discussing apartment arrangements and generally expressing her excitement (and fear) for departing from the mid-West.

Our Adventures
The last two weeks have been filled with summer treats (and not just the kind from Ted Drewes). For the Fourth of July, Heather and her friend, Allison, who was visiting from Goshen, headed downtown for the big St. Louis fireworks display. Of course, the fireworks were great, the crowds however, were not. Heather determined that watching the downtown fireworks is a once in a lifetime experience...as in, to be experienced ONCE in a lifetime.
Tiffany and Amanda enjoyed a more low-key celebration with a small gathering of friends from church followed by watching (from a distance) a suburban St. Louis fireworks display.
Other fun activities have been seeing free musicals at an outdoor amphitheater, taking walks through the park on sunny evenings and doing lots of grilling.

Summer is no time to hesitate. Have an adventure before it gets too cold to feel adventurous. Happy summer!

I think it's safe to say that summer has rendered the three of us blog-slobs. Fun to say but bad for us as we try to recap the hectic events of the last couple of weeks.

Together:
We enjoyed Shakespeare in the Park about two weeks ago. This year it was The Tragedy of King Richard the Third. While Heather and Amanda struggled through the last long hours (yes, hours) of Shakespearian lingo, Tiffany admittedly was swept away by the magic of the outdoor theatre.
The Botanical Gardens (a few blocks from our house) hosts free outdoor music every Wednesday during the summer. So we packed ourselves a nice little hummus dinner and headed out to hear the jazzy sounds of local artist, Erin Bode. It was a beautiful evening and we would highly recommend catching a few of Erin's tunes.
Another highlight of the last few weeks was the Ladies Tea Party at church. All the women and girls at the church were invited for an evening of little sandwiches and fancy tea cups followed by a mystery wedding dress fashion show. Several women volunteered to model wedding dresses donated by women from the church. The goal, then, was to guess whose dress was whose. Tea, ruffles and friendly female faces. Good times.

On Our Own:
Tiffany spent June 16-20 speaking at a youth camp in Minnesota. The week was a bit stressful but overall a fantastic success. It was an absolutely beautiful week in the land of 10,000 lakes and it was a bit hard to return to the hustle and bustle of the big city after spending so much time on the edge of the lake.

Amanda spent June 20-29 at home in Virgina spending time with her entire family. The week included many exciting nights of games, connections with friends, quality time in conversation and other thrilling endeavors such as car shopping and buying.

This week, Heather is entertaining her friend Allison. On the horizon are St. Louis tours, trips to Ted Drewes and 4th of July fireworks downtown.

Today is July 1. The first day of our last full month as a unit. Tiffany and Amanda's terms end August 20th and 22nd. Naturally, a lot of our time has been spent making plans for life after 3522 Wyoming (our address for those of you not in the know). Tiffany is moving to Corvallis, OR with her sister and friends from college so she has been knee-deep in resumes, applications and apartment hunting (not easy from several hundred miles away). Heather and Amanda are busily gathering items for their future apartment together in St. Louis. After 10 months as a unit, life after seems like a strange, exotic world. And while an end is always hard, the three of us are ready and willing to reenter the world of paychecks and personal ownership.