Day 15: Leah Kiemel

Leah Kiemel is a snow beast. I have decided this after my first few weeks encountering the cold up here in Illinois. Yesterday when Drew and I got to our car at the airport in St. Louis it had snow and ice on it. This was shocking to me coming from 80 degree weather in Florida. I was freezing my tookus off and it was only 29 degrees. Now, mind you, 29 degrees is really cold. However it is not as cold as Colorado, which is where my dear friend Leah resides. So in thinking about how cold I was yesterday, I began thinking about how cold I bet Leah was...thus led to Leah being today's blog subject.

Leah and I met during our freshman year of college. She lived just down the hall from Megan/Shick and me. She is one of the prettiest girls I have ever met. Seriously, blonde hair, blue eyes, tall---GORGEOUS. (Sometimes it is hard to even be friends with her because of how beautiful she is!).

Leah is not only stunning, but she is a kind, sweet, tender friend with a world of compassion, and she loves to have fun. She is so laid back and is always down for whatever. When we lived together our sophomore year I remember always taking trips to Target and Chick-Fil-A together. We would just chat, listen to music, tell funny stories, etc. That same year she and Shick came home with me for Thanksgiving. I had such a blast with those girls. That was one of my favorite Thanksgivings. "Now go back and tell all your friends that there was ice on the railroad tracks". HA HA HA.

Leah has lots of talents. She takes amazing photographs, she can play the piano, she creates pretty sweet yearbooks, and she is really athletic. She is also incredibly thoughtful and always sends me the cutest postcards or little care packages. I miss her so much!

She was a great, great help at our wedding. Thanks to her (and some other great pals) I was saved from "program misprint" embarrassment. Leah spotted the errors, reported them to someone besides me (thank goodness...I was a bit stressed out), and got them all reprinted before the wedding. Thank you Leah! Seriously. I did not even know any of this had happened until I got back from my honeymoon. It was great!

Leah-

I miss you so, so, so much. Drew and I really want to come to Colorado again soon and attempt skiing (I say attempt because you know how athletic we are)! Hopefully we can do that sooner rather than later. I always have so much fun with you! You are a gem of a friend and have such a kind heart. You are a joy to be around. I miss your presence. It was always so calming. You are beautiful inside and out and I am a better person having known you and I have been eternally blessed by our friendship. I miss you Leah! Come to Carbondale!

This is us in West Palm Beach doing the typical Leah picture request: Jumping in the air!