If I was to go up to any random teenager and ask “ How did you spend your summer?” Nine times out of ten I’m sure I would receive the generic “I hung out with friends” answer. Hopefully, I can prove to you that isn’t the only response. On Thursday, June 7, aka the last day of school, my friends and I decided to make a pact. Each one of us was embarking on a new journey, and we knew this would be our last summer to spend together. We decided to give summer 2012 the name YOLO (if you honestly have no clue what that means by now, you’re un-American). It could not have described the events better. I’m going to break the summer up into three parts to make it easier for you, alright? So let’s start with part one: Pool Therapy. Pool Therapy was established by my mother last summer as a vent session late at night on our pool deck. You know the phrase, “What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas?” Well that rule also applies to Pool Therapy. It’s a bonding time for my mother, my friends and myself while relaxing in the comfort of our swimming pool. Part two: Los Angeles, California My mom, my grandmother and I traveled to the City of Angels in late June. Putting our YOLO summer on hold — at least with my friends. I have a very close relationship with both my mother and grandmother, which made the trip even more enjoyable. Talk about a 10-day dream vacation. We shopped on Rodeo Dr., drove up and down the Pacific Coast Highway and stopped at Huntington and Laguna Beach during the journey, just to name a few. My personal favorite stop on our vacation was shopping at DASH Boutique, which is owned and run by the Kardashian sisters. I have no shame when saying I’m a die-hard Kardashian fan, same with my grandma (yes, my 79 year old grandmother religiously watches “Keeping Up.”) Unfortunately we missed a very pregnant Kourtney by 20 minutes. Part three: Chinese Food, Chinese Fire Drills In the beginning of July, I returned from California. I couldn’t wait to sleep in my own bed. But I couldn’t. Why might you ask? My wonderful friends filled my room with confetti and balloons, so I couldn’t get to my bed for three days. (Thanks, guys.) It dawned on us mid-July that we only had a few true weeks of freedom left, due to the fact that we’re all in the band and band camp is the first week of August. We had to live up to our YOLO summer expectations, aka spontaneous trips all around the Pittsburgh area, at any time of the day…or night. We discovered this awesome Chinese buffet, which we visited on a daily basis, that literally had everything. It became an obsession; we had to eat Chinese every day. One day after our Chinese run, one of us had this wonderful idea to do a Chinese fire drill in the middle of Route 65. So of course we did it. You Only Live Once, after all. So, this was just a snippet of my summer. How did you spend yours?