downtown scavenger hunt

Friday September 17^th

Shiny came to visit! We went downtown for a scavenger hunt with campus ministry. People were starting to set stuff up for Art Prize so it was especially fun to walk around downtown. I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves :)

Okay quick story... see this picture here? Very cool. Grand Rapids has carriage rides at night that tour the river and part of the city. I was being snap happy so I wanted a picture of this romantic endeavor (although the people were random). As the carriage passed us, the woman was crying and the man, holding a ring. I took the picture moments before, as he was asking her the big question! AHHHH! I love a good proposal story. Even better for me, an awesome picture story! I wish the picture would have turned out more cleary, and I wish I could contact the people and say "Hey, I have a picture of your proposal!" I guess spontoneity is part of the beauty of photography.

 

p.s. These shoes are not mine, although I wish they were :)

Project Pancake Frisbee's

 Thursday, September 16
After class, Kitty and I decided we needed breakfast for dinner. Our only problem was that we didn’t have pancake mix! They shouldn’t be too hard to make from scratch right? WRONG. I don’t know what magical ingredient the box includes that we did not, but I am scared to try that on my own again for a while. Needless to say, our pancakes turned into concrete/rubbery (I know those are pretty contrasting characteristics but bear with me) nastiness. I got so frustrated with one I flipped it out of the pan and across the room. This sparked an idea. Between hysterics from laughing, I asked Kat, “wouldn’t it be fun to just make the rest of these and chuck them at cars?” We were so slap happy we decided we had to.

After choking down some Nutella coated failed pancakes, we took the rest outside with us. Coats on and hoods up, we crouched in the ditch in front of our apartment complex. We tossed the our pancakes like frisbees into oncoming traffic. No worries people, to our disappointment we did not actually hit any cars; I guess we didn’t really intend to. We did not want to cause any accidents.

After our adventure Carleigh came over. We made kettle corn and watched Dirty Dancing Havana Nights. Oh how I long for a culture beyond the American one…

seasonal salad

Kitty made me this yummy salad with different color tomatoes from the GR farmers market, mozzarella and basil. Yum!

Brunch

9/12 I slept through church, of course… Claire, my dad and I drove to Birmingham to meet his family for Brunch. We ate at Forte. It was good, but not quite worth the price. Claire and I decided to become restaurant critiques- we gave the art and décor a C+. I felt like I was stuck in the late 90’s. Hehe. I hope my poor future husband does not read this and change his mind about me. Really sweetie, I AM a good person! Just particular… but I chose you, right? Right.

Anyway… Among my silly sister, aunts, and grandma, we giggled throughout the meal. As sinister as my father tries to appear, we have a very similar sense of humor. His attempt at seriousness is in and of itself comical. I wish I could remember what we laughed at, but I know I was laughing at something he did. Knowledge of my statement above held me in a laughing fit for some time. Geeeez.

September 11th

my grandmother of 76 years old got married. Never too old to find happiness! I drove home early in the morning and spent my time running around trying to find white tights, gray leggings, white leggings, anything!  Three different store and three different purchases later, I found out my sister owns just what I was looking for. Such a relief…but at the same time frustrating.

 It was a treat to see my extended family all dressed up and in one place; an infrequent occurrence. Unfortunately it was quite the rainy and blustery day, and the wedding was planned to be outside. Many of my cousins took part in the ceremony and it turned out beautiful. The string quartet and solo my cousin performed made me long for my violin. I miss my little musical friend and escape from the world!

I had a lovely time eating inside with my aunt and uncle from Cali. The food was uh-may-zing! I was especially amused by my itty bitty sister who is in COLLEGE. What?! I was unaware how much I would miss her until U of M took her away. Luckily she came back after her first couple weeks in one piece. Phew.  Why must my favorite people live so far away? Ok, I guess it is not fair to pick favs… and I do get to live across the hall from one of my top people J I’ll stop complaining.

After being goofier than two 5 year olds at a picnic, Claire and I I played my cousins electric violin. Recalling Party in Third Class (my favorite 5^th grade song. Yes- from Titanic) from memory, was more rewarding than you would think.  My personal triumph that I too am a musician- just unrecognized by my father’s side of the family. Wow, what has gotten into me?  Jade must have passed on some of her tantrumental  attitude on me.

Only later on did I remember the significance of 9/11. Quick side story, if you have not yet watched the movie “Remember Me,” you should. I cried like a baby.  9/11 has a whole new significance to me, and for that I feel guilty of being less sensitive in years preceding. Sorry to give it away. Ugh, that movie breaks my heart.

I’ll let the pics speak for themselves. Sorry for the ramble! (I am here in a coffee shop in Holland, passing time until work… 1 month later).

Oh yes, one more thing; is not this girl and her precious curls enough to live and die for? Gives me goose bumps.

My wonderful father. I tried cropping out that persons hair... I need photoshop

 ^me on my new bed! I made my mom take me to Big Lots so I could pay for my new bed before the sale was over. Sooo excited! (my current bed is terrrrrible)

Oh yes, and thank you Kp for contributing to my outfit :) I got a sea of compliments!

Busy Bee

Friday I had my whole evening planned out to visit Claire and Allie at U of M and then drive home to see my loving fam. Wrong! Physics gave me a good dose of reality. Not only did the s.o.a.b. notify me that it was taking over my night, it hinted that it would be taking over my life for the next year... What choice did I have?

I stayed in and tackled that sucker until 10'O Clock at night. Thank goodness for my awesome roommate!! Kitty kept me in line by scolding me every time I stepped out of my room without the result of finished hw. I obeyed and finished earlier than I thought. Pj's and laziness time! Wrong again. Nope, I was being forced to socialize. Hehe. :) Good thing I am not in charge of my life- I might spend the entire time being lazy and dreaming and wallowing. I am a blessed girl.

We met some friends at Apple Bee's, which is slowly becoming one of my favorite places. (It may have a tiny bit to do with Friday Night Lights... but that is another story...) Who knew there was half off appetizers onFriday nights?! So long Bdubs! Someone has beat you.

Although these pictures were taken the day before, I forgot (hello I am updating this like a month later!). Here is to you Kitty! My awesome, fashionable sidekick, modeling my favorite candy EVER! Happiness? Duh!

I run my life or is it running me...

 [Thurs 9]

 Although this day was long ago, I clearly remember bursting out of bed early in the morning. Not a usual event for me! I left my window open all night and the instant the sun began to rise I was wide awake. I took one glance outside and saw that the sun rise was beautiful, so I ran outside like a little kid on Christmas morning (do kids run outside? No. But you know what I mean). Sometimes I get anxiety that I will have nothing to take a picture of so the instant I see something beautiful, I am camera ready! What a silly thing.... Anyway, with PJ's and bare feet, I snapped this photo and left the impression of insanity on my roomie and neighbors. Oh well.

 Physics lab was canceled due to the uneven week. In celebration, I decided to cook my most elaborate and favorite dish ever, eggplant parmesan. It is to die for! I spent all afternoon prepping the eggplant and making homemade marinara. YUM YUM YUM! Okay quick funny story- I am a terrible speller and misspelled "marinara." I was typing on Microsoft Word due to crappy internet connection and accidentally corrected it to Marijuana. Ahahaha. How awful.

 Beautiful colors!

My perfectionism and other stresses I won’t mention, led to a mini break down. Good thing I have my Ellen! She prescribed me a good run. We did a lovely 3 mile loop around the cornfields of Allendale. Ughhh running out here at night is UH-MAZING!!! You could see every star. The cool breeze was perfect, and there was little traffic. My lazy self forgets how good running is. 

(Good news to all, I am not crazy! I have just had to give in an accept the fact that PMS is real...)

catch up...

Tonight is finally a break from the craziness of school! I am spending my Friday night watching Trevor… who is sleeping… so I am practically getting paid to write in my blog. Love it! I honestly would not choose anything else after this week. Writing = my therapy. I need to write more often! So here goes me trying to catch up with the entire month of September…

Ok the Wednesday after Jade started school I was back at GV. Wednesday’s are pretty nice because I only have class till 10! I was at Trevor’s mom’s that day. We watched Sesame Street which was HYSTERICAL.  I like that back in the old days, children’s TV shows were so well written that even the adults could enjoy them. (or easily amused people like myself!)  What ever happened to good TV!?  Let’s just say I had the Lambaba stuck in my head the rest of the night. (Hehehe, Claire, you had the joys of watching this with me). 

Kitty and I had small group at night. New girls came, yay! Our group is huge and awesome. Excited!!  I can’t even remember what we did… but I am sure it was fun lol. No Bible study yet.

My happiness for the day (other than Sesame Street… DUH) was concord grapes. J Please don’t be bored by my upcoming photos, they are all food! Food=  new love. 

Off to Kindergarten

Sunday and Monday I must admit were pretty insignificant. Work and sleep. I was ready to go back to West MI. Monday was the last day of the season for the waterpark. Last first year as AMG wooot! At the end of the day we got free ice cream from concessions. My friend Abe sang for us before we left- it was adorable! Love that kid.

[Tues 7th]
 I was really lucky that GV gave us Tuesday off because I was able to see Jade off to her first day of Kindergarten! My mom and I woke up early and met Karla at her apt. Uhhh that kid is to die for! I felt like I was going to cry.

Good job mom!! No tears.

Kind of cool, Karla's kindergarten classroom was right next to Jayden's. Jade was good to go, practically asked us to leave so she could play. Other kids on the other hand were having mental breakdowns parting from mom and dad. We passed more than a handful of weepy parents in the parking lot.

The rest of the day mom and I ran some errands. We even stopped at the Farmer's market! Got some good fruit and veggies for school including my fav, concord grapes! Mhmmm. I made two new CD's for my drive back to school. Before picking Kitty up to head back, I met my friend Justin for coffee. Very nice :) Pumpkin white chocolate mocha. Yum!! The drive back was actually quite pleasant as well. Good convo with a good friend. :)

Expectation vs. Reality

[Fri 3]
Orgo Lab, drive home. I got to see my babies for a little bit. :) Jade said, "I am glad I got to see you today Toni." Hehe. What a doll!

[Sat 4]
Luckily I got the day off of work! I slept in which was incredible. I went and picked Karla up to go shopping. It was funny because my goal was to buy make-up, shoes, a fall jacket, and a dress for Karla to wear to my grandma's wedding but we accomplished nothing. That's what happens when you shop with a mom! lol. Instead we spent our time in the Hello Kitty store, the Disney store, and a Candy store. And eating chinese of course :) It was fun! I had a bad case of the giggles at the Disney store, and afterward I walked around the mall with a Tinkerbell hulla hoop- which was a reoccurring laughing fit. Geeez.

In the evening I met up with my friend from the gym. We had plans to go to Arts Beats and Eats but it didn't exactly work out. We hung out at his friends for a bit but I didn't want to be out all night so I skipped out. Oh well. I went over to Erika's and played games with Hunter, Christian, Kaitlyn, and Erika for a while. Too bad none of them thought Balderdash was as fun as I did lol.

Quick Tangent-
Remember the scene from 500 Days of Summer where Joseph Gordon-Levitt meets Zooey Deschanel at a dinner party and they play one half of the screen his expectations and one half what really happened? That pretty much explains my life. I live in la la land. Although I love it there, I need to get out! Most of you know what I am talking about... Actually to tell you the truth, yeah I do have high expectations. I should just expect that they won't always be met.  I do believe, however, that one day my expectations will meet my reality- only when I least expect it. =]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pKDj7DJZMnI&feature=related
(only watch the first 50 sec)

In the middle of September, we'd still play out in the rain...

[Thurs 2]
After class, Kat and I watched TV on our beautiful new couch (I'll post later!). We were just sitting there and a our painting near the stairs just fell out of its frame. We cracked up till we couldn't breathe hahaha. I decided we needed to make a replica of the "If I Die Young" picture of a sad dead girl. Kat was my subject of course.

Ok super model...

Funnnneeeeee! We went over to Carleigh and Jill's apt. later. Adorable! They are so eclectic and classy. Chocolate chip cookies+record player+laying on the floor. It started to hardcore storm so Jill decided to lay out in the rain. We of course joined. (Okay so it's not exactly the middle of September... but oh well, I still thought of Chris Daughtry). It was especially fun to watch the drunk people across the yard turn a mud pit into a slip and slide. hehe.

My Grandma Choked on a Noodle

[Wed 1]
Funny? You would think not, because it would not be funny if Grandma choked. But I thought it was hilarious (Sorry Gram!). Kat and I had our first small group meeting Wednesday night. We played this game called pictionary telephone or something along those lines. So funny! Someone thinks of a goofy sentence, the next person draws it and folds the paper so the sentence doesn't show and passes it, so on. I'll let you guys experience it for yourself. (I picked this one because I did the first drawing, hehe)

We had a good turn out of 9 girls! All super cool :) Ooooh and Kat made Zucchini bread. It sounds gross but it is better than banana bread! Yum.

Classy Class

Tuesdays this semester I have class 8 am- 9pm!! Ouch... I had my first cadaver lab though. No bodies yet, but we got to work with the upper limb bones of real people. Cool! It made me really excited :)

My 6-9 class is killer. Lib 314. It is going to be pretty easy, reading and writing, but my teacher is a nut. Kind of vulgar, and a downer about his childhood. What he holds off from saying that is offensive, he wears on his face anyway. Keeps things interesting I guess?

I don't remember in the slightest what I did that night, but I did take this awesome picture when I came home for lunch :) Wanying bought my roommates and I all cell phone charms from China. It is so pretty!

Junior Year

First day of school was lovely :) I only have two lectures Monday morning and I am done. What!?

I went to pick up Trevor for the first time which was exciting. Have you ever seen someone SOO incredibly attractive that it hurt? Well I did- Trevor's teacher! Ughhh... He is getting married :(  [of course he is!] Anywho, another cool work incentive lol. Trev had a good day. I got some hw done, woot.

At night was the campus ministry cookout and praise rally. As leaders (how cool!) Kat and I went to represent small groups. It was so nice reuniting with old friends. Especially Kimmy!!! My original roomie :) You know what I found of that made my day? She reads my blog!!! Thanks Kim! It really made me super happy :D

The music was AWESOME as always. Man I love GV<3

What would you do for a Klondike bar?

Fan-mail :)

[Sun 29]
I actually was scheduled to guard for a change of pace. Strange... I thought I would hate it but it was actually a nice break from being in charge of any craziness. Surprisingly less stressful lol. I certainly don't miss staring at a pool though. At the end of the day I had a save, HAHAHA. It was kind of fun :P  (#13!!)

It was soooo busy that I didn't get to go home until 6, which meant the drive back was a late night one. I arrived to a helpful roommate who helped me carry my stuff in and had made my bed for me! I can tell it will be a good year :D What else did I find? A ton of fan mail!!

Ok maybe no fan-mail yet from my faithful and avid readers... but packages none the less make me happy! Even if they are just text books. New makes me excited!!! I LOVE the beginning of the school year. I love new classes, new people, new beginnings.

Thank You

[Sat 28]
The thing that made me happy that day was Thankfulness. It was hard to come home for just two days of work and then start school right away! After such an awesome weekend with awesome people, I walked into the water park feeling under appreciated, useless, and out of place. Before anyone got to work, I walked into the guard room I found an envelope with my name on it. It was a thank you card from one of the new lifeguards, Emma. Made my day! Note to self: write more thank you notes and take time to appreciate people  :)