B2

When I woke up in the new apartment, Ellen was there! I am sooooooooo excited for this year and my new roomies. :) It was good to see Ellen, her mom and Jesse. It was a quick reunion because Kat and I had to get ready to leave for our retreat. Here are my new roomies in front of our place. Geee I am really making it easy for all of you stalkers out there!

 We helped move in new students on campus with the rest of the Campus Ministry Leadership Team. The new dorms and dining place are amazing!! I am close to being jealous that I am not a freshmen....

Our retreat was at Pine Trails camp in Sagatuck. It was so fun meeting new people! I have my own group called a "Pod," with several people from all the different teams. We are going to get together once a month at our host families house for Sunday dinner. How nice! We were the BEE team and we had to make up a cheer lol. V-ball, progressive dinner, worship, bonfire, banana boats= awesome.
Here is a picture our cabin poster. Kat and I were so worried we would be seperated haha. Phew!

Boys are like pants; you have try them on before you by them

^from the lovely Katherine Polmear :) it was fitting for the day lol

Monday= work all day. Running. Ordering books. Sleep!

Tuesday I worked all day and drove up to GV at night in the good old Gersabeck van. That thing is two years younger than I am! We go way back lol. It was so nice to catch up w/kitty, and have someone with me to drive this time! I didn't take a picture but I will post a picture of our awesome couch later. I have not been getting along with my camera because we have spent too much time together this summer. I will take artsy/happy pictures again soon.

LIFE

Sunday was my last full day off for the rest of the summer. I went with my dad and Claire to my Grandma's new house in West Bloomfield. It is so nice! She has a nice big yard and a big dining room facing the woods with a fireplace. Even though I rarely do, I love spending time with her because I feel like I am in a different time  (no, not just because she is old!).  I think was meant to live in a different era. Maybe the 40's? Classy music, fashion, and men that asked girls on dates in person. Haha :P This is not to say I want to live through WWII or anything- but I do wish our culture was less vulgar and less desensitized to good moral.
Claire and I looked through this old magazine that grandma had that actually is from the 1940's. I think she looks a bit like Claire :P 

Speaking of classy music, I am now listening to this :) >>>

http://upchucky.com/JukeCity/40s/OldJukes/40splayer.htm

liripoop

[Sat 21] started out with early morning inservice. LG competition, woooot! I bought everyone Tim-bits which were delish. :) The park was pretty slow so I got to go home early. Good thing because Erika invited me to dinner with her fam!
Just before I left work, Kat found an injured bird. He flew into the office, hit a window and fell onto a desk. I think he broke a wing :( We named him Everett, and I took him home. My plan was to help him till his wing could heal, but my mom was not a fan of keeping him in the house. I put him outside in his box and when I came home he was gone. I like to think that he escaped and is happily flying somewhere right now lol

Dinner with Erika's fam was so nice! We ate at Andiamo for Drew's birthday. I love her family :) I have not eaten so much good food in a long time! Jaimie and I split Creme Brulee. I felt rude taking a picture but now I am sad that I didn't!

Drew and Jaimie

My second parents :)

Daddy's girl

All my friends had parties to go to Saturday night and I was just not in the mood lol. I stayed at Erika's and played Balderdash with her family. That shows you how much I love them! It was soooo funny! We had to make up definitions to odd words, descriptions to movie titles, or strange laws. My favorite word was Liripoop; the tassle on a college grads cap. Fun fact for the day haha. I thought putting that as my title might engage people to read.... No worries people, my lengthy entries will be coming to an end. School has started and I am going to be a busy busy girl!
Last stop of the night was at Jared's. His dad was having his annual big party, Deanstock, and I went to go see Kaitlin for a bit. Fun, but I would still choose playing games with family over a party any night!

Note to self- never take your shoes off at work

Thurs- normal work day. Blah! I failed at finding something significant that made me happy.

Fri 20- Not my favorite day at work... Although it was staff appreciation, I felt a little less than appreciated. Lets just say it was stressful! I am learning more and more how to handle criticism, and I think my skin is layer by layer getting tougher. I am thankful for that :) 
I called my mom and told her that I could get 3 people in for free and to tell Karla. To my surprise, Karla, Claire, Grace, and Jade showed up a couple hours before close! I was SOOOO happy! Not only did they drastically improve my day- I am glad I got to show someone that I do a lot more than sit around at work. Watching the girls playing in the pool made me want to join them so badly! I also wish that I had my camera- but I really don't think management would appreciate that lol. Get this- to top off my day, someone stole my flip-flops for the second year in a row! Who does that!? They were off my feet for about a minute. Good thing Karla was there to give me hers.
After work the girls came over. I chose Grace and Karla's silverware fight as my picture of the day. :) The second one Jade took of me hiding behind Grace. She is a photographer in the making!

Life in Technicolor

 [Wed 18]
Coldplay= excellent driving music! Just what I needed for a long day of driving. I woke up super early!The sky looked sooo awesome, this picture hardly justifies what it actually looked like! Oh yea... and I guess driving and taking pictures is not the best idea lol.

Now you all get to see how beautiful my drive is. :) Stopped at Panera. Coffee and chocolate pastry, yum! Today's class was about transmitting diseases. Kind of cool. The lady was so spunky lol. For lunch I drove downtown. I discovered that the Great Harvest Bread Company is to die for! I had free slice of bread, spinach and asiago. MHHHMMMM.

 Wasn't hungry anymore but decided it was necessary for me to go shopping.
I bought a new hoodie and two dresses. Bad girl! It was my reward for driving so stinking much- plus I was getting paid for all of it. I made it to Holland by 1 for Recipients Rights class. Back to Grand Haven by 3. I met Ashley- another caretaker and a close family friend of Trevor's. I love that all of us girls are ex-cheerleaders, so of course we had a lot to talk about. :D  I love meeting new people!
I tidied up my apartment, did some laundry, and headed back home. Even though I was exhausted, and not looking forward to my 3 hour drive- I was in a good mood. My short two days made me excited to be back on the west side. I love how much more independent I am at school, and that I see more beauty in little things. I don't know if it is living at home, work, or what- but I have felt way too stressed this summer!

Blueberry Bliss

[Tues 17]
Woke up early to leave for Grand Haven! I had a couple of classes I needed to take to start work in the fall. For anyone who reads this and does not know, I am going to be a caretaker for an autistic boy during the school year. I got to my apartment around 11:30. Driving out to Grand Haven by myself was weird! It was sad because last time I was up at school, I was with my best friends and this time I was all alone. :( I know that during the school year I am going to get sad because two of them won't be there!
The class was boring.. it was about setting goals and being self determined, etc. I made a goal to get all A's next semester and explained to the class just how I am going to do so. I guess this showed that everyone, even mentally challenged people need goals.
Off to Trevor's house. I was happy to see him and his caretaker Emily again. :) We went and hung out by the pool. He is a good swimmer! She showed me a couple of new things and then we watched Chip and Dale Rescue Rangers (the intro about 20 times....lol) and Ratatouille. I can warn you all that Disney quotes and songs will be popping up quite frequently in enough time. That is Trevor's favorite thing! He memorizes word for word, every movie line and lyrics. I can tell that I am really going to love working with him. :) I felt that taking a picture would be rude- at least until I know him better, or at least tell his mom about my blog.
I talked to his dad for a while and already feel at home there, I love it!
On my way to the apartment, I stopped to get blueberries. The entire drive to Grand Haven, the road is lined with blueberry farms. I LOVE blueberries! I made my favorite creation- vanilla soy milk with blueberries. Yum!!!

 I went for a quick run and then headed over to C1 to watch teen mom with Liz and Lizzie. It was nice to see those girls! Sunsets on the West side are always good- too bad I was too lazy to go to the fields to take a good pic.

Compromise is not a sign of weakness, but a sign of strength

^quote from my last piece of Dove chocolate. (I had forgotten about them!) Funny how some quotes perfectly match the occasion in which they pop up.
Kp and I went to Target and did some school shopping. I didn't take a picture this day- but Kp did so I stole it from her. A picture of me by no means makes me happy- but Target does, so I guess that counts lol.

School supplies make me happy! It reminds me that fall is around the corner and I LOVE the fall. :)
We went on a quickie run up at Mott. I still had too much energy when I got home so I jumped on my trampoline for a good while. I worked up the guts to do tumbling in the yard. Oh boy! A round off spring takes more effort than I remember...
Went into work for a couple hours to guard the stay and play. It was freezing out! I do not miss lifeguarding... it gives you too much time to think!

Dreams

Sunday was pretty normal. Work all day! Not too bad because I got to work with my friends :) When I got home I pulled out my dream journal and wrote in it for the first time. I had a dream the night before that sorta haunted me all day... I hate when that happens! But I wrote it down just so I can look back and have a good laugh. Anyway, the inside had a cute saying that I decided to take a picture of :]

Observatory Adventure

[Saturday]
Another day off of work :) After a failed attempt to find a couch on craigslist, mom and I decided to go on a garage sale adventure to see if we could find anything. Two houses actually told us that they had sold a sectional earlier that week! Not cool.... My perfect couch will find me one day.
We drove through Rochester and up Walton. Mom suggested we go through the Lake Angelus area. I knew that secretly she just wanted to look for the observatory hehehe. As we passed the first long driveway on the left, we decided we had to at least look. A ways through the woods and to the left, sure enough was the mysterious observatory! We were suuuuuper excited :] As we drove up, there were people outside setting up some antenna and invited us to come take a tour. It was sooo cool! The old guy that gave us a tour (Larry I think was his name?) knew everything there was to know. We got to see all sorts of cool equipment that is still left there, and we got to go up in the middle tower to the top. He even opened up the ceiling for us! Of course the trees are overgrown now so it is hard to see the sky, but at one time they had one of the worlds most innovate telescopes of the time up there. What a day to not bring my camera... Here is a cell phone picture of my fascinated mother haha.

The amount of old stuff they have there is amazing. The old movie projectors and dark rooms were the most interesting. This one building we went in had offices upstairs that we got to explore. Right at the top of the stairs was a built in receptionist desk, with a chair, telephone and computer all left behind. There was a library filled with books and a board room table in the middle. In one room was a couch and desk with a ton of stuff in there that the guy told us a hypnotist used to rent out. One day she just stopped coming but she left all her stuff behind. Weird.... To be honest the place gave me the creeps! It reminded me of this episode of Boy Meets World where everyone is stuck in detention and there is a killer janitor or something... Don't ask, that just popped into my head lol. Anyway- enough rambling about that. It was cool though! I think that place will end up in a scary movie one day. Here is a picture of it from way back in the day- (it looks nothing like this now)

After we returned from out adventure, I headed over to Erika's again. :) Hunter and Christian were there. We all hung out in the pool and ate good food. Yummm! We played pool, corn hole, and had a fire w/smores. Such a lovely night!

Constancy

2 things to celebrate right now:

#1 I am updating about today!!! I do not need to write in what day it is lol
#2 this is my 100th post!!!! BIG DEAL =] I had a goal to write about everyday so that I can remember the simple things that make me happy and so far I have. This is by far the longest I have stuck to my guns about keeping a "journal" type thing.

So TODAY (in big exaggerated letters because I am happy I am caught up!) I spent the day at the McCracken's with Kaitlyn Campbell. Erika had her Ohio family in to visit, so there were lots of friendly faces and of course good food. We layed in the sun and were joined by our new 4 year old friend, Ella. She was so cute! I never thought I'd meet a 4yr old with more attitude than Jade, but I did! It made me miss her lol.

We went out on the Jetski's which was pretty much therapy for my mood. I had been bumming all day about my boy crazy issues. It is silly of me to let my emotions do that- but I think all girls do. We want what we can't have.
When we were out on the lake- I had a flash back to when I was riding in the ocean with Erika when we went to Cozumel. It made me think about how thankful I am for my friends. No matter what I go through- whether it be family issues, boy craziness, going away to school, or even me being a big huge brat- one thing always stays constant, and that is my girls. Stupid fights aside- we always find our way back to each other. God must really know what he is doing. We don't live with friends forever because we would drive each other nuts and we don't fully love each other because we would break each others hearts. Friends are for the in between stuff, the messy stuff, and the stuff that no one else will put up with. So today's thing that makes me happy is the constancy of friendship. I was comforted by the fact that who I was with was not going anywhere, and that allowed me to forget my stupid troubles.

Back at Erika's house, we played a pretty intense game of water volleyball with her family. I wish I could have gotten a picture of that! I am terrible- but that made it all the more funny. Oh dear. The rest of my night was me updating my blog. It is officially up to date! :D

I’ve never known the lovin' of a man, but it sure felt nice when he was holding my hand

[Thursday 12]
Work till 4ish. Busy busy day! I ran to Jimmy Johns for lunch and was stuck there FOREVER because it was $1 sub day. That alone stressed me out! Almost got a ticket... I parked illegally at a flower store. Oops. I guarded for the last hour I was at work, which was amusing :) I don't miss it! I was super energetic all day, so I stopped at Mott to work out. 3 miles on the elliptical 2 on the treadmill. Whooo!

I kind of crashed when I got home. I was on facebook before I fell asleep and Brit posted this video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7NJqUN9TClM&feature=av2e
EFFFF it was stuck in my head and I had this creepy dream i was like the chick in the video, floating down a river in a boat, but I couldn't move.You know Tristan and Isolde? It was kind of like the beginning of that movie. I am for sure writing that one down in my dream journal! I think I washed up at Grand Haven lol. Anywho- when I woke up, I of course had to listen to it like 10 times and have it in my head the rest of the night. I really love the lyrics though. It could be either a sad song, or hopeful. I choose hopeful- like life is short so live every moment like its your last- no regrets!

After my strange nap I headed over to Ms. McCrackens. Her, Kc and I went to Shane's house and a bunch of people from work were there. Good times :) We had a photo sesh with Erika's camera hahaha. I ended the night in not the best mood- but no point in documenting that lol. (just trying to keep it real).

strong girl!

P.s. if you watch that music video- look at that dudes hair. Ahahahaha

Cookies and ice cream :)

Tuesday= work all day. I decided I was on a cleaning streak and kept myself busy all day doing that.

Wed=work again! It was a good day though so I didn't mind so much. Emma made cookies for the people she ate lunch with the day before- which included me! I felt special :)

In service was actually quite entertaining- I am glad that it does not stress me out anymore! In a couple weeks the summer will be over (sad!), but at least I will no longer be "new" at my job. After work, a bunch of us met up at Custard Corner. Erika and I split a cupcake flurry ( i think?). It was good- but nothing like Coldstones! (my faaaaaav!) This picture was from my cell phone- so not the best quality obviously.

I had this song stuck in my head all day:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vaXoN1xwYW8&feature=related
Beautiful. Kind of dark- but I like it.

Imagine, believe, receive

^ the quote on the inside of my new ring that I bought in Grand Rapids. I bought it for $4.00 at my favorite consignment store, One Girls Treasure. I have always wanted to find a cute piece of jewelery that was once someones else's (like the magical pants in Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants), because it makes it more mysterious and cool.
Anywho- I worked all day Monday which was "ok." Kind of hard to go back to work- I was thinking the whole time about being back at school. My happiness from the weekend seemed to carry over. My new little memento helped remind me :) I wonder who once owned this ring?

Sun kissed

Sunday was sleep in day! After packing up the apartment and our car, we headed to Grand Haven again. There was a storm the night before so the waves were huge! You could feel the riptides, it was crazy. I had so much fun playing in the waves like a little kid. Remember the personal photographer I wanted? I found one! Hehe =)

always-have-a-good-time-friend

always-got-your-back-friend

with-you-no-matter-what-friend

silly-willing-to-get-dirty-friend

 

 

haha- even though all my friends are a little bit of everything, these pics seem to be truthful to my different friendships with everyone. I love it! Leaving the beach with no more energy, and sun kissed skin was evidence of a perfect weekend. :) Thanks ladies!

This picture sadly reminds me of how little is left of our summer. I wish things could stay this simple year round!

Coast Guard Fest 2010

Saturday was probably one of my favorite days of the entire summer! Not only was I in my favorite place in the whole world, Grand Haven, but I was with my favorite people. :] Usually at school- I am like, "Gee Kaitlin would love this" or, "this reminds me of Erika." But I finally had both of them with me! (Kat and Kc, you girls are just extra lucky ;] ).
We walked a ways to the beach- because there were a million people there, but it was worth it. The waves in lake Michigan were awesome and made me feel like I was in Cali. Kc, Kat, Erika and I thought it would be fun to try to stunt in the water, like the good old cheer days. The waves kept going over their head and I was DYING of laughter. I fell so many times and just couldn't stop laughing. Owwwwies. I think we all laughed for about 30 minutes straight.
Jumping off of the pier was my favorite moment of the day. It is probably about a 10 ft drop? Big adrenaline rush :) I wish I could have gotten a picture of us! Days like this- I wish I had my own personal photographer to capture such happy moments. I guess you can't document everything. Anyway- it was scary because so many people were crazy flipping into the water and as a lifeguard, I was about to have a panic attack!

look at all those people! For more pics- you can look at my facebook- these are just some of my favorites. The girls and I skipped out on watching the fireworks to avoid traffic. Bummer... There was so much to do in Grand Haven and so little time! I could have spent a week there.
Back at the apartment we ate pizza and I had a killer headache and was exhausted so I went to bed early. Kind of lame but whatev lol. If I say this was one of my favorite days of the summer- going to bed early can't be a bad thing, right?

Sometimes I'm clueless and I'm clumsy, but I've got friends who love me

[Friday 6]
I loved Friday :) Kp and I woke up and went for a run.We ran to campus and I showed her all of my favorite spots like 3rd floor Padnos facing the bridge, the fountain in front of student services and of course the chapel. We ran about 3 miles total. Kind of killer!
Us girls got ready and headed to my favorite lunch place in the world- Marie Catrib's in Grand Rapids. Sooo good! I love that it is also Erika's favorite, because now she has something to look forward to when she comes to visit :D The chocolate pudding there is a necessary purchase!!

After lunch, we explored Eastown and downtown and went to some cool shops. There are so many unique stores in Grand Rapids! I have been pretty shopping crazy lately so I didn't buy much. I found this journal that is perfect for me- a dream journal. I remember almost all of my dreams and tell my friends because they are interesting lol. Erika decided to buy me the journal as a late b-day present. I was soooo excited!!! Shopping with the girls was so much fun!

I will have to take my camera downtown another time and post pictures of my favorite places for those of you who do not have the luxury of visiting :)

On our way back to my apartment we went to Meijer and bought groceries for the weekend, courtesy of Erika (thanks!). We made a lovely dinner of lasagna, and salad. YUM! We were all so slap happy it was funny :) We headed over to I8 (my old apartment) to hang out with friends. The night was interesting to say the least....lol. 

Shoes

[thurs 5]
Went to Target and bought stuff for my apartment and new shoes! Much needed trip :) I ran into the lovely Kaitlyn Campbell! I ran to the bank, worked out and packed for my stuff for my much anticipated trip to Grand Valley with the girls! When Erika and Kc came to pick me up we ate pizza in my backyard and I played on the trampoline with Grace and Jade. Nice start to an awesome weekend :)

Tigers vs. White Sox

[Wed 4]
Dadio got tickets from work to take Karla, Claire and I to the Tigers game! My own father was shocked to know that I had never been to a Tigers game haha. I have ALWAYS wanted to go to one, so I am glad I finally got to go! Our seats were pretty awesome. I have to admit I am not a huge baseball fan but it was still fun of course =)

This little girl in front of us was so cute! She saw my camera and asked if I would take a picture of her. As if I could say no!? She put her hands up to the screen when I showed her the picture and she said, "those are my hands!" ahahaaha.

Karla being goofy as normal...

We walked around for a bit and I insisted on eating the cliche ballpark hot dog. My dad bought it for me out of guilt for never taking me to a game I am pretty sure, hehehe. It was really good, but I think maybe just because I was really hungry? Never again will I need to purchase that expensive of a hot dog because I have experienced it at least one haha. The Tigers were losing pretty early so we left in the 8th inning and went to the river walk which turned out to be closed.  Bum. Then we explored the Renaissance Center- very cool!

glass wall

looking through glass wall at the outside city. Trippy huh?

à bientôt

[Tues 3]
 in other words "until next time," because hopefully I will be seeing Babsi again soon! (I don't know German, so French will have to do). Her stay here went by all too fast.  :'( Allie drove her to the airport with Kp, Laura and I.

Kp made smoothies for Al and I, which were delish :) Later that night, my mommy and I stayed up to watch the news to see the result of the primary elections. The Oakland County Parks millage passed! Yayyyyyy! I did not do my research about who is running for governor, but I will do my best before November :)