Birthday Dinner w/Fam :)

Friday we had an all staff meeting in the AM. Went home and napped forever!!! Naps are the best thing in the world lol. I basically sat around all day, but it was nice. Worked out? Can't remember... probs not... Ooooh I talked to the lovely Ellen on the phone! She sent me a pleasant b-day surprise in the mail. Earrings and a CD- new music is my FAV!!!! I love her very very much : D

My fam was planning on going to dinner to celebrate my birthday. We decided on Al Faccino's because I wanted to go somewhere new and my dad said they have good bread. Nothing close to Kruse and Muer, but still pretty tasty! I got eggplant parmigiana (sp*???) which was delectable.

It was just the five of us, no kiddies. They were at their other grandparents house. It was nice to not have chaos at the dinner table but I sure missed them when we ate cake! When we got out of the restaraut, the sky looked crazy cool. Somebody  did not want to stop and let me take a picture... so these are from inside the car.

Trippy huh? I have an obsession with the sky. Okay quick short story- so Claire and I are fascinated by this fb group called "Waterford Then and Now." I have always been fascinated by old buildings and history and the like. So earlier in the day we were looking at all the cool pictures with my mom and we came across a picture of this old observatory off of Lake Angelus. We researched it a little and its really cool. It was built in the 1920's and was owned by U of M but now it is privately owned and I don't think in use anymore. It is hidden because trees and stuff have grown around it, but we decided it was our mission to go find it. How is there something cool like that in Waterford and I have never heard of it!? 

Anyway, after dinner we made my dad drive down Lake Angelus Rd to see if we could see anything. We did not find it but finally I made them stop so I could take a picture of part of the lake. My pictures did not turn out so well... so I'll post my dads. Him taking a picture of me taking a picture... hahaha what is up with this family!? Like father, like daughter :)

Back home Karla, Claire and I  found the observatory on Google earth because it is not where it says it is. It's down some private road. Off of Lk Angelus. Stay posted!!! You will see some awesome pictures of this place in the future. (Am I not the biggest nerd?) 

http://www.mcmathhulbert.org/index.htm 
^if you are at all interested



I think my dad has a picture of my cake somewhere... It was super yummy. I like my mom's homemade best, but my she bought one from Costco with vanilla mousse in the middle and it was a close 2nd place. Hahaha, I think I hurt her feelings a little bit because I told her I am not a huge fan of rainbows, which there was on this cake. That's a story for another time... but my dad got a kick out of that at least. :P

Game Night

Work all day and then inservice. I was exhausted!!! The girls and I headed over to Kaitlyn Campbell's Aunts in Davisburg because she was dog sitting. Seriously it was the middle of no where! Boxed wine, Sangria, junk food and a box of cards is what we brought :) We played 2 rounds of Oh Hell- I was not on point that night! Our exhaustion turned into slap happiness, then crankiness, so we called it a night pretty early. It was nice to just chill out and get away from home though.

July 21

Today I turned 20 :) Yayyy! My favorite day of the year hehehe. I started my day off with a run at the gym. It was lovely.
I spent the better part of my morning getting ready for the day and met Kitty and Erika at my house. We went to pick up Babs and headed to the Ann Arbor Art fair. Good life choice! Not only did I spend the day with my most of my besties in an awesome city[not all of them :'( ], but I got the best deals ever at Urban Outfitters. I have already told a million people this- but I bought $50 jeans for $5!!!! What a steal lol. Fall shopping is checked off my list for going back to school. The girls and I decided this would be an annual trip.
I got to meet up with Tori, my friend from school and my birthday twin!!! It was so hot out that I look like a hot mess in all of my pictures lol. I guess that is aloud. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves :) Oh yes- and Kaitlyn Campbell met us there! Good Friend award for the day goes to her!!!

We ate lunch at Noodles and Co. Yummy! We were all a little bit hyper lol

This street performance group was interesting! A cello, violin, and a not-so-great singer doing renditions of pop music. They did "Use Somebody" by Kings of Leon for me, just for my birthday! My fav :) Here in this pic they are performing "Bad Romance" can you tell?

Hehehee

cool building. I posted this so you can imagine how beautiful the weather was- this is unedited!

Funnel cake :o)

To end our night we ran into this strange man who had a cat in a bag but the bag broke... we asked if he needed help- so i got to hold the kitty while he emptied his back pack. Haha the cat actually did not seem to mind at all. Poor thing. His name was Jasper.
Overall I had an awesome day! We were all too exhausted to do anything that night, which was fine by me lol. I did miss my Kaitlin though :'( I wish her and my sisters could have been there. Especially Claire, so that she can see how awesome Ann Arbor is! Thanks for the Birthday love everyone :]

Dress up

[Tues 20]
I loved work on Tuesday, it made up for all of the bad days! Megan let me leave and get us Starbucks while still on the clock. Hehehe :) It was a slow day at the park so I really did not have much to do, which was very nice.

When I got home, Jade and Grace were there! Jade wanted to play with my scarves and dress up in my clothes lol. I can tell that she is going to be stunning when she is a young lady :) 

hehehe what a goofy girl :D

I talked to Kp on the phone and she found a Kitty in her neighborhood! This called for an emergency visit lol.
We played with the little guy and fed him but decided it was best to put him back where he was found. I can't fall in love with anything right now- my heart is too vulnerable! (no pic :[ )

She gave me my B-day present which I LOVE!!!! I saw this girl in an adorable peach dress at Olive Garden, so Kaitlin went and bought me the closest thing. Cell phone pic- not very good!

I will get a good picture of it when I wear it on a hot hot date ;) hehehe

FAME

[Mon 19]
 Only worked till 3! I worked out in the late afternoon and saw some friendly faces :) I chatted with Alyssa for a bit which was nice.
Back home I picked up Claire to go get a moovay with me. We got FAME. It was not as good as I expected it to be but I still enjoyed it. Anything to do with music or dancing will make me happy. I guess you could say I have "artist envy." The movie planted an idea in my head that I must cut my hair like Kherington Payne. Despite my temptation, I am still going to grow it long. Next time it is short, it will look like this though :)

P.s. Asher Book = insanely adorable!!!

Le Ballon Rouge

[Sun 18]
I was supposed to work all day but I got to leave around 5:30, yay! I drove out to Commerce to meet my family at my cousin Rachel's open house. Poor Claire had found out the night before about Lewis :'( so it was sad to see her in the dumps.
My mom, sisters, the babies and I went on a walk outside. Jade was in a crabby mood! I found a yellow flower and she insisted on having it. I refused to give it to her until she said please but she was equally stubborn and never did. She ended up throwing a tantrum and we left soon after. I felt kind of bad, but I don't want her to be spoiled!
Back home I apologized to Jade and explained to her why I wouldn't let her get her way and then gave her some balloons I grabbed from the party. She was still pretty mad at me so I suggested that we go outside and let the balloons go. That just about thrilled her :) We decided we were going to tell the balloons messages to give to Lewis. We went out on the trampoline and let them go. I told her how the balloons reminded me of this movie, Le Ballon Rouge, that I had watched in French class. The story is about a boy who finds a red balloon  and they become friends. They have all sorts of adventures around Paris and even meet a blue balloon along the way. Overall, the balloon was happier outside and free rather than stuck inside. She loved the story and I promised we would watch the movie someday :)

Here is a clip of my favorite part :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h483u_HQxns

and for you die hard fans (Kaitlin and Allie hehehe)- I found the full movie online! If you are ever in a down mood, you can watch this. I have to warn you that it is from 1956 lol. It makes me so happy!
http://vimeo.com/2590280

Even later that night, I picked up Babs and we went to see Inception. It was sooo good! I was far too tired to understand the whole thing completely lol. The movie was about dreaming and I fell asleep for a hot second and dreamed about the movie so when I woke up I was just confused haha. Oh well, I had fun :)

Swing life away

[Sat 17]
Woke up super early around 7. I read some of "The Shack" and watched tv. I ended up falling asleep again around 11 and was out for a while. Feels so good to be lazy :D

My dad made lunch for moi- bacon and eggs :) In the afternoon I went over to Erika's and chilled with the girlies! We had plans to go to Jackie's aunts for the night to hang out with some work peeps. I loved sitting outside till the sun went down before we went- Babs had fun taking pics with my camera. My friends look like super models!

 

I started out my night swinging with my bestie Erika :) At Jackie's, Babsi and I stayed up late swinging till late hours of the night, chit chatting about life. One of my favorite things to do!

Don't take it personal

^A happy little message from another one of my chocolates :) It helped me to forget about yet another yucky day at work... more angry parents and people taking their stress out on me. Ayiyi! They need to give me a new shirt that says, "Angry? Talk to this girl!" Haha. Oh well. Gotta toughen that skin I guess.

 One good thing was that Hope made a Starbucks run and bought me a chocolate vivanno! Two shots of espresso and a $3.00 discount trumped the Debbie Downers of the day. Yay :D No picture today... oh bum.

I was so exhausted that I went straight to my bed at home and caught up on my shows. So nice :)

Silver Lining

[Thur 15]
No work today! I worked out for like 2 hours because I was terribly bored lol. I watched Dr. Oz and Oprah :) I have come to realize the newest trend on tv is for iconic show hosts to talk about all the many ways to prevent cancer. Interesting I suppose.....
I went home to a lonely house and a big old storm was blowing in. I never realized how much I talked to my dog lol or that he made me feel safe without me realizing it. So sad! I went to the breezeway to take a picture of the clouds and the wind blew open my garage door and the breeze way door and scared the bajeeeebeeees out of me!

When dad got home we decided to go meet mom for dinner at El Patio. Yum! Parents paying for dinner is something you don't realized you take for granted as a kid. I wish I would have brought my camera because when we left the restaurant there was a beautiful sunset!
We stopped by Karla's to cheer Jade up because I guess she had been pretty upset the night before after she left about Lewis. Poor girl :( Her and Grace had the cutest matching yellow dresses :) I took a pic of Jade on my phone but it does not have a very decent camera.

 It was so funny, Grace came to me (of all people) and told me she wanted to poopy on the toilet. Haha, we gave it a try but no success. She has never done that before Karla said! I felt oh so honored :) Oh the joys of being an aunt...

Taffy and Chocolate

 [wed 14]
I forgot to mention that the night before I stopped at Kaitlin's so I could take my mind of the doggy loss. She bought me cappuccino mix, yummy chocolates and salt water taffy. :) It definitely helped!

In the morning I had to go to work which was not fun at all! Not only did I wake up crying and go to work crying- but I had a pretty terrible day. One the drive to work, I Miss You, by Incubus was the next song on my CD so I turned the radio on and Goodbye to You, by Michelle Branch was on. Seriously!? That song is like 10 years old and should not be played on the radio. Some crazy parent was angry with me at the park because I didn't tell him what he wanted to hear... and I got in trouble by my manager and he called my boss. COOOOL.... I had to stay till about 9 because of some water park family fun night (which I did not know was that night). AHHHH! Enough about work lol.

I went home and Karla stopped by with the kiddies and Jerry. We told her about the bad news :( I went to my room because I was really sad and Jade came to cheer me up. She said, "Lewis went to heaven didn't he?"

Later that night I went to get a glass of water and noticed someone had turned one of my chocolate wrappers into a magnet. (I think mom was stealing some chocolate! hehe :] )

I guess this is just a tough lesson in learning to let go- something I am not very good at!

May Angels Lead You In

Man I have been dreading writing this post... I guess I should get it out of the way sooner than later. Tuesday was probably one of the hardest days of my life so far. I really never have had someone close to me die and I know the death of a dog is different- but in my world any death is a great loss. For Tuesday to be one of the worst, in retrospect, I guess makes me a pretty lucky person.
I woke up really late and found my mom making a tearful phone call. Lewis was refusing to eat or drink anything- which I had known the day before. She talked to a vet tech at the humane society who said his symptoms were signs of either kidney failure or progressive diabetes. Either diagnosis meant he was suffering. It has been clear to me for a while that he was not doing so well, so there really was no purpose in taking him into an appointment. (They were booked for the next 3 days anyway). My mom made an apt for 2 pm, and we took him in to be put down. It was sad that it was just the two of us- my dad was at work, and Claire was still camping. (Sorry we decided not to tell you till you were back Claire, we didn't want to ruin your trip :'[ )

Our last hour together was very bittersweet. I was angry with him because when I take him outside he forgets how much pain he is in and runs around like a little puppy; this day was no different. I threw his toy to him a couple times- and even though he could not run very far, he seemed happy as ever. I could see in his eyes that he was not well- but a stranger would have not been able to tell there was anything wrong. My mom told him to go get in the car (he was a very smart dog) and he got all excited and did what he could to jump in. I wanted to strangle him for being so happy because I was a mess. Looking back I am glad that he got to go with one last burst of energy. I would not want him to be so sick that we had to carry him to the car, because by that point he would be clearly suffering. I think God did it the way he did on purpose.
The worst part of the day was when everyone was gone at home but me and I found myself talking to myself because this time- I really was all alone. Before we left to the humane society my mom asked me to take a picture of him, but ironically, my camera died as I was taking it. Must have been meant to be. I think it is better to remember the good times anyway. Here is a picture of me laying with him the year we got him.

We had Lewis for exactly 10 and a half years. We adopted him on January 13, 2000. He died July 13, 2010.

(Lewis as a puppy with his favorite toy, Webster)

It is not easy saying goodbye to something you have known for half of your life :(
He was very much a big part of my life, more than the average family dog. He really was like another member of the family, and he will be missed very much. I know he is in a better place now and there is no more pain for him, but thinking about that doesn't help me feel less lonely.
Here's to my dear and loyal friend:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oH-T3V9EC5s&feature=related
Hear You Me -Jimmy Eat World
(ignore the video part)

Ya-Ya

Monday I only had to work till 4- very nice!
I came home to a sad eyed pup :( I could feel in my heart that it was one of his last days. I laid on the floor with Lou and we cuddled for a while. I talked to him and told him how I thought he was the best dog and I apologized for all the things I have done to hurt him. I know that seems dumb, but I actually talk to my dog a lot. I am pretty good at talking and he is the one thing that just listens and doesn't criticize me. After a while Oliver joined in on our cuddle session and laid behind me. I felt very lucky :)

I felt very sad to leave him- but I had made plans with Kat. I could have layed there all day with him. (Posting all this makes me sad all over again :'[ )
At Kitty's house, we watched The Divine Secrets of The Ya-Ya Sisterhood, a movie that I love. It put me in the best mood! #1 I need to one day live in the south. #2 I feel so blessed because I truly believe that with my closest friends, I have achieved sisterhood. Whether they like it or not- they can't break up with me, or divorce me- we are stuck for life. Even if we live apart when we are older I know things would go back to how they normally are if we were to meet up, like nothing ever changed. I know that when we are old ladies, they will kidnap my children if necessary, to explain my insanity. I usually watch movies and feel envious at the end, but with that movie I just feel comforted.
Kat made sweet tea and we sat out on her back porch and talked till the mosquitoes were unbearable. We were pretending we were in the south ;) I am glad to have my Kitty back!

Ooh- I forgot that we ate Grapefruit! How could my night have gotten better?

Whatever tomorrow brings I'll be there

Sunday- No church.. bad girl : / I went and worked out for a good while. I think that is the only way to manage my emotions lately and it is a good stress reliever. I should not be stressed because it is summer! I guess life in general can just be exhausting sometimes. While I was running Drive by Incubus came on, and I forgot how much I love that song. The lyrics are too good :) I decided that will be the next song I will learn with Flit (my guitar :] ) I named it after the hummingbird in Pocahontas.
After working out I went over to Erika's and sat in the shade while her and KP caught some rays. No A/C in the car, combined with my new fear of skin cancer caused me to do this but I didn't mind at all. It was so nice to just sit and talk. It was about to storm so we went inside. Erika took this goofy picture of me. Dosn't this chick's backyard look like a vacation destination?

We played Oh Hell with Drew and Jamie and made food. Yum! I tried to force the girls to watch Glee with me. Erika tried her best but Kaitlin was too sleep and left. I stayed over there till almost 1 am having a much needed heart to heart with Erika. I love when that happens! Drove home to lots of thunder and lightning and listened to Incubus again- it reminded me of good times last summer :)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RpwsuhOUAkk

Mommy

Sat was a long day- starting at 7:30 with inservice. I was so glad to have Megan there to help me! We made the scenarios we did into a competition and I think the majority of people enjoyed it; a nice change from last inservice. I dropped t-man (a dummy named Timmy for Ellen- probably the only non lifeguard that reads my blog lol) on this kid who was not too happy with me which made me feel crappy for the rest of the day. Wutev's, thats my job kid!
I came home not in the happiest mood. I think mom-O was also feeling bummed about Claire being gone for the week- probably because that is how everyday will be when school starts. I laid upstairs with her for a bit and we watched Boston Med on my computer. I didn't mind re-watching the first episode, because she has not seen it yet. I loved spending time with her even though we were both not in the best of moods.
I didn't take a picture, obv cuz i worked all day and my mom hates pictures. I posted a picture of Pina Patel- a Resident on the show that reminds me of myself. I guess my silly, small struggles at work will help thicken my skin for when I have to deal with real problems like she has to deal with. I envy the way she deals with constant criticism- that has got to be difficult!

Remember Me

Can't recall what I did earlier in the day, but Kp and I wanted to go do something so I went over to her house in the afternoon. I found old Olive Garden gift cards in her wallet in which I was snooping in (that is what best friends are for :P), so we decided to go. Her grandma was working and got us a good table. Our food was delish!!! I am glad that my friends make good temporary boyfriends : D We loved the lights inside because it reminded us of Twilight. LOVE

Kp and grandma Penfold. Sort of a sill picture but you can see the lights better w/no flash

My yummy drink :)
After Dinner we decided we needed to be lazy and watch a movie. We drove to Kroger and got Remember Me at their redbox. We saw my mom on the way out! She is so adorable haha, she left me a note on my car;
Chloe I am following you! <3 Mom

Hehe. Oh yes and we bought junk food-

I just remembered that all this splurging was okay because we worked out earlier in the day. Thank goodness! The movie was a lot more sad than I expected- the end is a real shocker if you haven't seen it yet. I was practically sobbing! I don't think I have gotten so sad over a movie before. Geeez. Go watch it if you can. Lots of crying this week :'(  Had I known this at the time I probably would have saved that good cry for a later date.
Aside from the sadness- I had a lovely evening with Ms. Penfold :)

Eclipse

The heat was killing me Thursday, I wanted it to rain so bad!!! When the storm clouds rolled in I was beyond happy :) I got more than I hoped for because I had to stand in the pouring rain (at work) and was then cold. (never content!) I would rather be cold than hot I guess. The 3 previous days of work had put me in a funk, so I was not in the best of moods during in service. (Sorry friends!)
Nice hot shower after work and then off to see Eclipse with the girls, finally! I forgot how good that book was, but I really enjoyed the movie. I miss the days I used to be crazy about Twilight. Fall of freshman year was my favorite time ever- everything was new and I lived in a fantasy world of books, optimism and Taylor Swift music. I absolutely love the fall! Anything that reminds me of that is enough to put me in a good mood :)

Oh Hell

Last Wednesday I loved :)
I woke up and went to work out. It felt good to run again. I was so lucky to not have worked because it was the climax of the heat wave! Erika had two people faint at the playground opening she was doing First Aid at, and at work two people had heat related emergencies, one where EMS was called. I was slightly jealous I was not part of the action but also relieved lol.
I went over to Erika's house in the afternoon. Her Uncle from New Mexico was coming into town and he wanted to play cards with their fam. We made this awesome cake that was chocolate/banana. Yum! Her Grandma Green brought over baked spaghetti and I ate dinner with her family. Here we are with our cake:

Oh soooo attractive.... lol. We played Oh Hell (my new fav card game) I think like 6 times. Erika and I had too much caffeine and were like dying of laughter about everything. I think mostly because with her family, I am the butt of all jokes. I love it because it means I am part of their family. If you can't make fun of someone you must not be very close, and if you can't laugh at yourself, you have a problem! Her Uncle was so determined to win, and the last game I beat him by one point! I was so happy haha. If you look closely, you can see my score (third column). Erika is holding her score card from the first game where she won and never burned once!

Hide & Seek

Another long hot day at work? Yup! Those three days in a row absolutely killed me. Thankfully on the third day my friends were working- making the day bearable.
When I got home I wanted to go straight to bed but instead I had a nice surprise; the kiddies were over! Jade immediately made me part of some game she was playing and hand cuffed me lol. We played hide and seek for the longest time- only Claire and I took turns hiding Jade from each other. Way more fun than actually hiding! Grace got the biggest thrill out of finding everyone.

 Even my mom joined in on the game when she got home :) Just what I needed after a long day!