“You must live in the present, launch yourself on every wave, find your eternity in each moment.”- Henry David Thoreau

One word for Monday (Memorial day).... Jet Ski's! I woke up to a thunderstorm around 5 am and was bummed that we would not be able to help put the jet ski's in. 5 hours later, we woke up to sunshine! I was soooo happy :). We drove to the state park and I rode on the back of Kaitlin's jet ski and her Aunt rode the other. That lake is huge! We drove all the way around and slowed down in front of the super sweet houses. The coolest thing about that lake is that it is not completely surrounded by houses, but a lot by just trees and land. The whole lake was practically ours too as far as no boats on the lake. We switched it up after a while and I rode Babette's while she climbed on the back of Kaitlin's. I was so scared to drive the thing the first time by myself! It felt like I was riding a motorcycle/horse/bull. Especially because the waves got pretty big near the end of us being out there, I got a little scared again. I guess I say I am scared of many things, but I also thrive in fearful situations so it's all good lol. Here is my favorite picture of Kaitlin and Babette. She is so cute!

The car ride home was a trip- we went through an extra hour of traffic, two bad storms, and a bunch of cranky families with a bit of road rage. I talked poor Kaitlin's ear off and kept cracking myself up. I know that drives people nuts, but I am thankful for being so easily amused. Sorry everyone! :P

Stupid? Yes. But completely worth it :)

Sunday- Kaitlin and I spent alllllll day in the sun (refer to the title of this post). It was incredibly nice! We started our day with delicious Starbucks. After laying in the sun for a couple hours we made smoothies. Raspberries, strawberries, blueberries, bannana, yogurt and orange juice. Yum!

When we went back out we were so hot we both jumped in. The lake bottom has a lot of clay so our feet were sinking and that freaked me out a bit. I also had a fear of crayfish! I am a big baby when it comes to unknown things being near my feet.... I was so hot later that I went back in by myself. I floated out to where there was no clay and swam around and played like a child. Haha. I begged Kaitlin so finally we got the two person kyak and took it out to deep water and jumped in. It felt so good! My love for swimming in lakes slightly over throws my huge fear of them. Very odd, I know. Being in there reminded me of when Kaitlin and I were little kids and dreamed of having a boat because all we wanted to do was explore her lake. I look back and feel very fortunate because some people will never appreciate things like that as much as we do!

I am very brave for putting a picture of my very-white-self up, next to the ultra-dark-Kaitlin. Hahaha. I did end up pretty sunburned, despite my efforts with lots of sunscreen. Kaitlin's aunt bought fried white fish for dinner from a local place, it was awesome! Yum yum yum. ( I say that every time haha). Then Kaitlin and I built a fire. I said to her, "Rich kids went to dumb sports camps. We went to Girl Scouts!" At least we can get a good laugh from it, and we picked up some nifty skills! It was darn good fire. (I am trying to stay cuss free :D ).

Our smore's were a success!

Indian River

Saturday morning, Kaitlin and I woke up early to leave for up north. We were going to spend the weekend with her Aunt at her cabin on Burt Lake in Indian River. I love it up there! After a good three hour drive, we stopped for lunch. We got to eat outside, yay!

As soon as we got to the house, we threw our bathing suits on and laid on her Aunt's dock (lots of sunscreen!). We accomplished a lot our first day. We took the kayaks out for about and hour and then went for a run. We ran 1 1/2 miles down the road and walked back on a path that runs along the lake, in the yards of all the lake houses. It was so cool! I did not have my camera with me unfortunately. Sometimes it is better to just live in the moment instead of constantly trying to document it! We found a lilac bush still in bloom and decided to bring some back for the house. Note to the world: Diet Snapple ice tea is the best!

Playing Catch

Friday- In the afternoon I stopped by Jared's and hung out with him, Kp and Erika for a bit. Sun poison free! I played catch with Jared's brother's dog Marley. He was loving this log and begging me to throw it into the lake for him. It makes me so happy that all dogs want is love and they are so easily pleased. I wish more people could be like that. He won my spot for picture of the day!
Erika went to eat for her mom's birthday while the rest of us had quite the debate about our government and just about life. It was not an argument- more a telling of what we believe. I appreciate a good intelligent conversation every once in a while, it makes me happy that SOME young people in my generation care! :)

double-O-seven

Yesterday was a fun day. Claire had her friend Araena come over and I took a million pictures of them outside for their open house invitation. (They are having a combined open house). I was like a real photographer making them sit in different poses and shooting from different angles. Actually to tell you the truth, I felt like a little kid that was just pretending haha. Claire and I used to endlessly pretend and play games in my backyard, so I felt like I was right back to being 8 years old again. It was fun though. The only part I don't like is sorting through all the pictures and picking out the few that turned out good. I always feel guilty deleting the rest! My life is just too hard haha.
My dad grilled hamburgers for us and we listened to his oldies music- which I love because again, it makes me feel like a kid. :) We sat in my room and made the invites. Maybe if my career in medicine fails, I can become a photographer/event planner. Hopefully, it is just a hobby! Here are my favorite pics-

The last picture is the one we chose for the invites, the rest are kind of just silly. They are both so giggly! Later at night Claire and I were dressing up and taking odd pictures lol, but I deleted them by accident. We were super hyper and I am pretty sure, annoying my mom. I taught her this really stupid game that I played on the car ride to West Virginia last fall called double-O-seven. It is like rock paper scissors only with guns and shields. The point of me teaching her is that you look really dumb when you do it, so when we were playing we were like cracking up. I almost peed my pants I was laughing so hard, right before my mom scolded us to go to bed. :P

Our hearts sing cause, we do not know

I spent the majority of Wednesday finally playing my guitar. Practicing- I should say. I learned Little House, the song Amanda Seyfried sings in the movie, Dear John. I love the lyrics. Such a simple but beautiful song. My voice is not nearly as good as hers, but the song is not all over the place as far as range of voice so it is not hard to learn it. Playing music reminds me of when I finally got glasses at the end of high school. Before I got them I thought I could see fine, but after I was thrilled because I could actually see the leaves on trees. Some people think listening to music is great but they don't know what they are missing until they can play it. It's like seeing leaves on trees that you didn't know were there. I am much better at playing violin though, that is my true medicine.

In the evening I paid a lovely visit to my long lost friend Kat. It was so nice to sit down and just talk. I have no clue how we have not run out of things to say to each other. We took a walk in her neighborhood. Fluffy white seeds covered the sidewalk making it look like snow. I am enjoying my time off while I can, work is starting very soon! I realized this blog is going to be hard to keep up with throughout the year, especially when school starts! But I actually do feel happier when I can look back and remember the positive things that happened everyday. So far I am loving this blog!

Oh yes, there was also a full moon last night. My picture was during twilight again, as the moon was rising. The sky looked awesome later when I drove home, the clouds looked like Aladdin clouds.

360-something days of being happy... oops :P

As I said a couple posts back, I was just not on point this past week. Monday I did not take a picture so oopies lol. I take more then one some days so I will have much more than 365 reasons for happiness! I worked pre-season till 5ish. Then I talked to Kaitlin for hours about my life issues haha. I am seriously too lucky to have her as a friend :)

Tuesday late afternoonish I went over to Erika's with Kp. My intention was to lay out with her but I had sun poisoning. Not good! I actually did a little research and it sounds like I have PLE. Don''t want to hear about my nasty skin issues? K-good. Anyway, no sun for me. Jared came over and we played Cranium, him and Kaitlin, Drew and Jamie, against Erika. You all should know what happened... we won of course :) Then we played Oh Hell. I love that game but am not the best at it! We drove over to Jared's to take a sunset cruise. This time it was most pleasant :). I am just not one to enjoy big groups of people. Here is a cute pic of Kaitlin and Jared I took with my cell. 

Erika drove us to Walgreen's and we bought ice cream and candy just for fun and then we watched the Lakers game back at Jared's. Doing stupid simple stuff without planning it makes me happy! :]

Far From What I Once Was....

Sorry for the negativity and sarcasm back there, but Sunday was not the greatest day for me either. I came home early and slept late... skipping church of course. I have not been very consistent lately. I am lazy lazy lazy. I laid outside for a bit and then came in and watched two hours of Greys Anatomy. The finale scared the crap out of me! I was seriously like terrified haha. I also caught up on GLEE, and that didn't even put me in a good mood. I found this random picture on some girls facebook (yes I was stalking) and surprisingly, this was what I thought was the best thing that happened to me all day.

Obviously it is not a picture I took, but I loved it enough to use it. It was like someone was saying, it's okay to not be happy everyday. I am a work in progress. Karla came over and we had a family dinner, that was nice. :)

Sunsets and silhouettes... well not exactly

 (Saturday)
Lewis, my crazy dog woke me up at 5 am because he needed to go outside. My 10 year old, childhood dog is on the decline :( I am so worried about him... Anyway, I lay in bed forever because there apparently was also a parrot or large bird of some sort squawking outside me window. (#1 that is an exaggeration, I know parrots don't live in Michigan. #2 squawking is quite the word... it took me several times to spell it right haha). I had to wake up early for work anyway, to help set up for the all staff work meeting, but not that early! I was there from 9-3:30, very long and boring! I took an intense long nap to recover from my early morning.  Kp called me to come hang out with her and Erika at Jared's. We ate dinner (thanks Jared!) and then went on a sunset cruise. The lake looked amazing, I love summer! The crowd however, not so pleasant. [To so-and-so's friends, although I doubt you have the patience nor intellect to ever sit down and read a blog, I will say anyway, please grow up and get over yourselves!] Happy blog? right- okay :) Anyway, I ended up staying over there for a bonfire and lets just say it was a crazy night. I truly believe that the altering of ones mind, by any means, does in no way bring out the best in that person. I am not completely innocent but I am working on showing people the best in me. On that note, regardless of what happens, watching a sunset is always something that will make me happy.
The title of this blog refers to one of my favorite Rascal Flatts songs, Cool Thing. Go listen to it. :) It is so cute! What a perfect way to meet the person you are meant to be with. Ladies and Gentlemen; I do not think I will be meeting that certain someone here in Waterford... All for now <3

The Glass Castle

I woke up late Friday; of course. I laid in bed for the majority of the afternoon and finished my book, The Glass Castle. The story was sort of depressing but it made me realize how ungrateful I am! This girl who had nothing turned into a huge success all on her own, without ever feeling sorry for her self. All in all, it was an easy read but very good, I'd recommend it. I took a picture of my cute little reading spot for you all to see. : D Later, I went to Kp's at night. Erika came by and we watched Dear John :) . I liked that movie better the second time around because I already knew the plot was sort of a let down so I focused on better things like the awesome music and scenery, haha.

Crazy Lazy

Thursday (yes a week ago!) I can't remember anything significant. Just for the record, last week was very boring and I was very lazy! I am trying hard to get out of my bad sleeping habit. Well anyway... I stopped over at Erika's for a bit. Her, Kp and I made Deano (Jared's dad) a dessert for his birthday. It was a cookie crumble pie, with oreos, cream cheese, butterscotch pudding and whipped cream. Yum! It looked awesome when we were done. Unfortunately I could not go with the girls to give it to him because I had to go home and wait for Claire to call for a ride home. Blahhhhh. Oh well. I got to see Jade and Grace for a bit :)

My Heart’s my Only Treasure

 Lyric from Tyrone Wells "Wondering Where You Are." I thought it summed up the day pretty well :)

Today was a very chill day. I made a dent in the endless journey of cleaning my room. I finally found a way to arrange it so that I can perfectly hang all of my pictures. My mom was going to help me but I got distracted organizing other things. Karla made a surprise visit, just her. I was so excited to see her! I NEVER get to see her without the girls, so when I do, it feels like the old days before she had kids. Like I am not an adult but a little sister again. (cheesy? yes haha). I made home made lemonade, which turned out perfect this time. Karla and I went upstairs to talk with my mom. We were laughing about something I cannot even remember. I feel too lucky to have two sisters. Everyone should always have a sister.
I started going through some of my mom's old jewelery while we were talking. There was a big box filled with little boxes and many of them where empty or had out-dated funky stuff in them. One box had the tiniest gold locket in it. My mom said that my grandma gave it to her but she never wore it because it is so small. I tried it on and it fit perfectly so she said that I could have it. I know this seems silly but it really made my day because secretly I have always wanted a locket. I don't think I own anything that was once my mothers either. I am pretty sure it is my new favorite piece of jewelry. It is so simple and delicate. It looks kind of old fashioned. Love it :)

Kat picked me up to go to church at 6. It was crazy that I haven't been to church since school got out and the message just happened to be about being a leader. They talked about how we really all need to be leaders and step up, and they mention small group leading a lot. It was something I really needed to hear, I am glad Kat was with me too! Here are some verses that I think I need to keep in mind;
1Timothy 3
 ¹Here is a trustworthy saying: If anyone sets his heart on being an overseer, he desires a noble task. ²Now the overseer must be above reproach, the husband of but one wife, temperate, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, ³not given to drunkenness, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money.  ⁷He must also have a good reputation with outsiders, so that he will not fall into disgrace.

 Sorry to write a ton, but I am bored! When I got home I curled up in my newly arranged room (love it!) with a chai tea latte, my pj's and my computer. My new show, "If I Can Dream," has a website with 60 cameras 24/7 and my favorite person on the show, Kara, decided that she was going to start a weekly book club with her viewers. They are reading "The Irresistible Revolution," by Shane Claiborne. I ordered the book but it has still not come in the mail. Anyway, people watch the live video of Kara and send in their thoughts via twitter and she reads them and gives feedback. She is such an inspiration. I love that she fearlessly talks about her faith while being viewed by the world. Not the typical Hollywood thing to do, I give her props.
I followed the discussion even though I have not read any of the book yet. My favorite part was when a viewer asked about the stress of being a "perfect Christian" which is something I stress about all the time. I always feel like I want to be the best I can be but also don't want to come off as a self-righteous church freak. I hate when people say "live in the moment" or "life is too short to hold back," because those seem like excuses for careless behavior, but me thinking so seems incredibly "judgy."
Brandt, Kara's friend talked about how many of the wicked in the Bible were in the kingdom of God and were less self-righteous than many followers of Christ. He said that these people were measured more by the intent of their heart and not by their actions. This may seem like an obvious conclusion but it really set me at ease. I feel guilty sometimes for not doing more volunteer work or for not going to church every single Sunday.Sometimes I feel that people see me as self-righteous when I say no to certain activities. Or maybe when I do do something that other people don't necessarily approve of, then I am being a bad Christian. I should stop explaining why I decide the things I do and just know in my heart why. I need to remember to forget what everyone around me thinks and know that only God and I know the intent of my heart, and I need to remember that that is all that matters.
Sorry if that was confusing, but it helps me to write it down so I can remember it in the future; even if I am the only one who understands.

Unending love, Amazing Grace

Not only do I love the song amazing grace, but it always reminds me of my beautiful niece Grace and I get a little choked up. I won't go into too much gushy detail about how dearly I LOVE my nieces and what a blessing they are to me, but if you are reading this, you should already know! Well I got to wake up to this beautiful face on Tuesday morning.

Instantly my day was a good day! She cuddled with me in bed for a while and then we played with her toys and under the covers. Simple things with little kids are the best; like sharing a bowl of Lucky Charms. I rarely get to spend time with just Grace alone because her and Jade come as a pair, but Jade was in school. I have this incredible bond with Jayden because I saw her almost everyday as a baby and she lived with me for a long time, I feel like her second mother! I love every second I get to spend with Grace because we get that much closer. I was trying to teach her to say all the different colors. She is very quiet but incredibly smart!
It is so funny how attached Grace is to my dad. Every two seconds she is asking about Papa and she is so happy around him. Being an aunt is the best!
Later in the afternoon I went to Kaitlin's house and we took Morgan on a walk. No matter what, Kaitlin and I always have meaningful conversation. I appreciate my friends at home almost more than anything. :) We then headed over to Erika's where Kaitlyn Campbell and Allie were. We made strawberry banana smoothies and brownies. Yum! Kat came over later. We all sat in the kitchen and talked for a while. I started getting stressed because they were talking about work... yikes! I am worried that I won't be able to make everyone happy at work ALL of the time, and that is hard when you work with you best friends. For the most part, Tuesday was a very good day : D

Driving Range

yup- titles are getting pretty lame... I can't be clever everyday!
Monday Erika, Eric and I went to the driving range. Erika was telling me that she wants to get good at golf now so that she can impress her husbands friends when she is an old lady. How very thoughtful :). Golf seems like a classy sport so I adopted her way of thinking. Plus, back at school Jesse had taught me how to hold a club and all, so i figured I wouldn't be too bad. Eric drove us out to the driving range near Great Lakes but when we got there I forgot one important detail- I am left handed! I had learned left handed too because Jesse and I are awesome and both are lefties. Ughhhh. I had to re-learn right handed because obviously I live in a backwards world. (actually I am backwards in a "right" world... grrr). It was very awkward and let me tell you, my right arm is basically useless as far as strength goes. Strength to swing a golf club? yes! not easy! I made the most of it and tried my best anyway. Here is one of my beautiful best friends who looks like a model. Isn't she stunning? : P

I will be a good LEFT handed golfer one day. Later we visited with Eric's parents and I also had a good talk with Mr. McCracken. I love talking to my friends parents! I am such a suck up, but they always have insightful things to say and genuinely care about what is going on in my life. Relating to adults is a good skill to have. Erika and I won yet again another game of Cranium, no big deal. : P Our competition was actually real this time because Drew's girlfriend Jaimie was playing. Haha- no offense boys.

Twilight (Sunday)

ooh, I forgot that Monday before I left to Erika's I took this picture of the moon. I am never good at taking night pictures so I was very proud that this turned out! It was actually a picture taken around twilight. Below the moon and to the right is a star that surprisingly showed up.

Cat Naps

Sunday- A combination of getting over some sort of sickness and staying up far too late left me in bed all day! (a good kind of in bed all day). I got to be lazy lazy lazy, but trust me i needed it. I came home and slept in until 1:30 pm. Wrote my blog, read some and went back to sleep. Then ate something, read some more and again went back to sleep. My kitty, Oliver, joined me :)
I did not have anything that significantly brightened my day, but I was happy to have a furry friend to join me. It left me thinking- cats are so lucky to have no responsibility and can sleep whenever they want and however long they like. Wouldn't that get boring though? This led me to believe that cats must dream. They have got to- that must be why they like sleep so much. Then I wondered, do all animals dream? If so, what about? [pardon my misuse of commas, apostrophes and semi-colons- I put what I feel is appropriate but hate grammar!]
Anyway, if I were a cat I would dream about climbing trees and fitting into small places because i can't imagine how cool that must me. If you are reading this, but do not know me all that well, I must tell you that I am a huge dreamer! Literally, I remember usually one dream a night, sometimes more. Crazy. If I could take pictures of my dreams and post them on here I would. That would be brilliant :)
Here is a picture of Oliver napping on my bed, cute as can be.

After my three naps (in one day, yikes!) I listed all my school books on amazon and my coach shoes on ebay. I am a poor college student! I went over to Erika's to play games with her brother and Eric. Erika and I are undefeated in Cranium! Yesssss :D Then we watched In the Land Of Women, because we both looooove Kristen Stewart! very odd movie.... wouldn't recommend it but oh well. Well thanks to my naps, I stayed awake till 4 am. Not good! This was much too much writing for a day where I did a whole lot of nothing.

Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah

Lol my title is actual me singing a Spring Awakening song! Go figure : P But seriously- yesterday was a very blah day. Day like 5 of having a headache. GRRRR. and there was a bit of chaos in the Gersabeck household. Let's just say some people were in a "mood".....
I was feeling pretty down and was watching tv online all day. This new show that airs on Hulu called "If I Can Dream," I am obsessed with! One of the girls on the show said she had just gotten back from her morning run so I clicked out of my internet page and decided that is what I needed to do. I just went on a quick run around my neighborhood but it felt good! When I got back I played with Lewis, my dog, for a bit and  before coming in I picked this lovely bouquet of flowers. Mood fixed! yay :)

Later that night, Kaitlin, Kat and I went to Allies. She is moving soon! So sad :'(. Just to Birmingham, but still, we had so many good/crazy memories in that house. We baked lemon bars (no pic sorry!) and ate strawberries in cream. yum yum yum! Allie and i stayed up ALL NIGHT talking. It was so nice and just what I needed : D. We started cracking up at like 7 am and we woke up Kp by accident. oops. All for now! <3

Prom

Wow- Seriously could not think of a more creative title haha.
Friday was Claires prom! Holy cow, that stressed me out. Like I said before, we really had no luck finding a dress. She decided that she could just wear my old dress (which I was perfectly fine with), but I did feel bad that she did not have one of her own. :( I told Kaitlin my dilemma and it last minute popped into my head that maybe she could borrow Kaitilin's! Being the best friend that she is, she said of course : D. She saved the day! Not only did the dress fit Claire perfectly, but it looked amazing on her. All of this happened the night before!
The day of, my mom and dad took Jade and Grace to the zoo while Claire and I went to Great Lakes to buy jewelry and a purse. I really ran short on time with her hair, I had to finish it in the car! But it all turned out and she looked amazing :). Go on my facebook and see all my pics! Here are my favorites.

Jade and Grace were being too cute! Jayden was in awe of all the pretty girls, she wanted to tell everyone that they looked like a "pretty beautiful princess." So sure enough she would pick a girl and say in a whisper "Toni what about her? The girl in the pink dress?" So we would walk over there and she would start talking to them. It was the cutest thing! I could tell the girls she talked to where incredibly flattered because she was a complete stranger to them. Children are amazing sometimes.

Build communities not empires

I must admit, today (Thursday) was not the greatest day. I woke up feeling awful- third day in a row I have had a headache. Kat and I had a lot to do before we were ready to head home and it was pouring rain outside! Also our two and a half our drive I was not looking forward to. I needed something to keep me in good spirits.

The night before I had written in a journal that we bought for my small group leader as a gift. Everyone from our group wrote something to her as a sign of gratitude for her effort in opening up her home and time for us. Writing to her, I remembered how grateful I was to have found a solid Christian community this year at school. For a while I felt like an outsider and unwelcome in my "group of friends" who I found to not really be good friends at all. Not that they were terrible to me, we just had a lack of common interests I guess. As I became closer to the person I wanted to become, I grew further and further from what they cared about. I am so thankful that I found people within my new group who were willing to listen to my thoughts, struggles, and desires.

Early in the morning I canceled breakfast with one of the girls from my small group because of how I was feeling, but she stopped by anyway to drop of the journal we were writing in. Just to see her was a nice reminder that I DO have people in my life that care and are willing to take time for me. Later on in the day (after a nice nap!) Kristina, the co-leader of my group stopped by. She is such a bubbly and caring person. I love that I have a community of people that I can count on up at school. The reminder of how awesome that aspect of my school year was also reminded me that I need to be preparing for next year. Kat and I are becoming small group leaders (so exciting!). Anywho- I have really been talking too much (didn't I say this blog wouldn't be like that?) oh well. This picture I took a couple days ago. My dad gave me the rest of his coffee the morning before I left and I loved the quotes covering the cup. :) I thought this one in particular was very fitting.

Summer school and good food

Hello World- still trying to play catch up on my blogging.
Lets see now... Wednesday. ahah, what happened Wednesday? Well, I woke up in my most chilly apartment- if I forgot to mention, the gas in my apartment was not yet turned on and the weather was less than stellar! Happy blog? oh yes... I forgot :) Ok, so I woke up and began editing my papers. I got really stuck on some of the comments my prof wrote so I wrote a couple questions down and headed to campus for my dreaded meeting with him.
Turns out it went really awesome! Not only was I able to laugh at some of the mistakes I was making with my papers, I learned a ton about how to be a good writer. I ended up talking with my professor for 2 hours about the education system in America, critical thinking, and how I could use what I learned in my Africa class and apply it to my future. I finally let go of my grudge of having this awful hard teacher and felt lucky to be taught by such a well read and insightful person. He wanted to see me improve my way of thinking and reach my full potential in writing "scholarly analysis' " by giving me an extension on the due date (due after first summer semester of classes!).  What do I get in return? an A!!! That is a huge deal for me! I must say this was a win-win situation. [if anyone is confused; I am not taking summer classes but my professor for my African Diaspora class is allowing me to work on my winter semester papers due to the overwhelming workload I had]
See- talking about school in the summer was not so bad! I am a big nerd. But let me tell you my friends, talking to your professor makes a world of difference in learning and getting the most out of school. We pay a ton of money- why waste it?
Okay well on to simpler things... Tori came to visit! : ) Nothing is better than good conversation with friends. What makes it better? Food of course! For my pretend summer getaway I bought a personal size watermelon. Tori and I split it while Kat started making dinner. Finally a friend who is not camera shy. Isn't she just adorable? Tori is such an awesome genuine person. She is also my birthday twin!

Kat dry fried tofu, and marinated it in teriyaki sauce while I started heating up zucchini, summer squash (my favorites!!) and red peppers in olive oil. We put it all together on top of quinoa which I was trying for the first time. It was a beautiful vegan meal!

Why so much about food you may wonder? I am a huge food junkie! Towards the end of a hectic school year my meals consisted strictly of  pb&j, cereal, and leftovers from roommates. To have time to cook again is a privileged and almost like a therapy to me. I love it! I am not vegan but Kat is slowly transitioning. (I am not even a vegetarian, I <3 bacon too much!). For Kat's sake- and just to be different, I ate very close to vegan during our week away (with the exception of some greek yogurt). As ridiculous as I think fighting the meat industry is (no offense!), I am starting to understand why some people give it up. It just feels healthier and cleaner to be without animal products. My body feels cleaner and happier. Plus it is fun to try new things! :) Maybe one day.... but for now, I just can't picture a life without cheese or bacon. I think I am going to make a greater attempt to eat healthy and slowly eliminate the sinful things that I do eat.

When life gives you lemons, make lemonade

Tuesday was a cold and rainy day. Although it is summer for us who are on break from college, it sure does not feel like it! Kat and I pretended it was summer anyway. We made home made lemonade!

We got to relax and watch tv while  I worked on editing papers that my teacher is letting me work on this summer. Gross... school work? Nahh, it was actually very relaxing to sit down and go through what I have already written without the stress of being actually in school. Plus- my African Diaspora class was very interesting to me, and I feel passionate about the topics I chose to write about.
We made three cheese pasta ravioli for dinner and strawberry rhubarb crisp for dessert! Here is a picture before we added everything- I though the strawberries looked so pretty

Kim, my freshmen year roommate came over after her night class and we got to hang out for a while. I forgot to take a picture! It was so nice to catch up and I feel lucky to now consider her an old friend of mine :). College is flying by! We all ate the entire dessert haha. After Kim left, Kat and I watched the movie, The Lovely Bones. I had read the book when I was about 13. It was a good movie but quite disturbing. Both of us could not sleep so we stayed up till 5 in the morning giggling and watching videos enviously of the Spring Awakening cast. They video blog their tour, and they seem like such cool and funny people! What a fun life that would be.

Home is where the heart is

Monday, Kat and I drove to Grand Rapids to move into our new apartment (actually Allendale, but GR is way cooler to say : P). Moving all our furniture out of our old apartments, and into our new (a lot went upstairs!) was exhausting but I felt very accomplished afterward and proud that we did it on our own! New is always exciting. I took a picture of my bedroom at home (my real home) early morning before we left because when I woke up, the sun was shinning through my window and made a cool silhouette of the bushes outside.Waking up to a sunshine is always a good reason for happiness!

P

The other picture is of a hand blown glass ornament that my Aunt Leslie gave me last year. We tried our best to add our own touch to our apartment to make it feel like home. I thought of the saying "home is where the heart is." I must admit, a small part of my heart belongs to west Michigan <3

p.s. I am not very good at only taking one picture- the more the merrier!

Mothers Day

Sunday, May 9th

For Mother's day, instead of buying anything for my mom (she dislikes presents), I helped pick up our house. I revived some of our household plants, cleaned the kitchen and helped de-tox our fridge with my dad. Knowing my mom, I know she appreciated it, even though I should be doing stuff like that every day.

All day I was still sore from my run two days ago! My mom of course would not let me get a picture of her ( I will get her one of these days!). Instead I took pictures of the kids from the 2nd most important mom in my life; my older sister. :)Karla brought the girls over late afternoon and we celebrated Mothers day, my Dad's birthday and Graces all together. I took the girls outside to play (still cold!) and we jumped on the trampoline, chased Lewis around the yard, and played on the swings. later the girls played with my hair and pretended to style it- so funny.I love those kids so much, it makes me anxious to be a mom!

Wild Goose Chase

My updates are getting very behind! For my MANY fans (hahah jk), no worries! I have not died : P

Last Saturday (May 8th) Claire, my mom, and I went on a crazy hunt to find Claire a prom dress. That girl is so tiny and the selection at the stores were terrible! We went to a dress resale shop, a wedding boutique, Great Lakes Crossing and Oakland mall. We Found nothing! (keep in mind those were the only places she has NOT been to yet). At Oakland we found this one store, Johnny Marie's, that had incredible dresses, but they still were not small enough for my tiny sister and the prices were way out there. Regardless of our luck, I had a fun day with my mom and sister :) The weather was chilly but it was a good excuse to shop all day. The sun shone through the clouds on the way to the mall, it looked really cool but I did not have my good camera with me so  I took a picture with my camera phone.

Chocolate and New Moon :)

Yesterday I got to see Kaitlin for the first time since Christmas!! We are talk so often on the phone that it didn't even seem like a spectacular reunion, which I think is a good thing :) We just sat in a her room and chit-chated, and Allie came by for a bit. We watched New Moon, God I love that movie! I am odd but New Moon is my favorite book of the Twilight saga because I can relate to Bella the most. I love that she learns to be independent and adventurous. Kaitlin's house will always make me happy because we don't really have to do anything at all when I am over there but we still have fun, it is like my second home. She messed with my camera for a bit but we did not take any profound pictures haha. Here is a picture of the awesome chocolate that we ate :)

Dad's Birthday

Today was Dad's birthday. I spent the day unpacking and watched GLEE with Claire. Then went to visit Jade and Grace because dad was babysitting them. We took some funny pictures of us playing in Jade's room. They are too adorable! 

Karla, the girls, dad and I went to my Grandma's for dinner and cake. I had not seen my Grandma in almost a year! It is nice to be back home with family and food. Something definitely to be happy about :]

Spring Awakening

Yesterday I went to downtown Detroit with two of my good friends, Kat and Allie. I have been wanting to see Spring Awakening for the longest time and I was finally able to go! Lucky for us, students could buy rush tickets for only $25. We got sixth row center seats!!! The music was incredible!!! Anyone remember Craig from Degrassi? He was the lead and geeeeez did that make the show more amazing ;)

 

Kat and Allie sitting outside of the theater. I thought they looked so classy :)

If only I could sing, I would be out of Grand Valley in a hot second and on stage haha. I guess God has other plans for me.