Busy B Weekend

This weekend brought a lot of fun! It started Friday night with dinner at a very crowded One Trick Pony with Kari and Emily, then we walked around Art Prize in the UICA - very cool! Then Saturday Jeff and I headed up to his alma mater Central Michigan University to see the campus and visit my cousin Dana who just transfered there. It was a lot of fun seeing her, she has a great dorm room and building, so new, so nice! :) Here are a few photos from the weekend -

Here I am in a balloon creature!

Me and Emily outside the UICA - I love the dutch girl in the window: the entire window was a mural, it was almost like cross stitching really neat.

Checking out Art Prize


I dont know what these were called, Starburst maybe?! There were three in the room, each about 5 feet in diameter.

Kari and I riding double in the front seat of Em's mini!

Football at CMU! - Go Chips!

Jeff and me taking it in - a little misty!

Me and Dana!

In other news, Marvin and Linds finally got the internets at their house - yay! And congratulations to John and Kerry Postema - cant wait for April 22 to meet the new little one!

The Greatest Show on Earth - Over the Top!

Last night Jeff and I took Marta and Eliza to the circus! It was so fun, I loved it and I was so glad to have some friends to go with! We went to the preshow where we got to see some of the circus animals up close, played with clowns, and saw an elephant paint a picture! Here's some photos from the adventure -

At the Ritz Coney

Marta and Eliza

Eliza Mouse (in red) playing Tug-O-War with the muscle clowns!

Kellie the Elephant painting a picture during the preshow - very cool!

Here we are waiting to see the action!

Jeff and Eliza waiting for the show to start!

Marta Mouse with her Clown nose!

'All the guys in the circus have chicks' - Phil Verwys

Including this guy! They rode the motorcycle on a tight rope (as you can see it was clearly attached) but then they flipped around the around the rope, pretty cool!


The light displays we're very cool, I was overstimulated for sure!!

This weekend I'm going to Art Prize and Jeff and I are going up to Mt Pleasant to visit Dana and see a football game, should a good time! Go Chips!

Camping!!

Summer weather finally decided to come to West Michigan in September, and we are taking advantage of it! :) My girlfriends and I decided to go to Grand Haven and camp! We had perfect weather, and let me tell you GH is so nice for two reasons: 1. No dirt! All sand, and you dont feel dirty and 2. If you do feel dirty, they have newly remodeled bath houses! Here are some photos from the weekend!

Our Campsite!

K & me in the 'swimming pool!'

A day at the beach!

Kim, me and K

On the pier

My motto after school is, 'summer ends when the weather gets cold' this weekend we embraced that, I hope you are too!

Now for a little Friend Making Tuesday -

I am looking forward to 3 shows:

1. The Biggest Loser

Watching it right now, loving it! I'm really pulling for Daniel, the guy from last year! This show is SO inspiring to me, I know it can be dramatic, but I'm fascinated with weight loss!

2. The Amazing Race

I love watching this because I'm usually with my friends from church, fun times!

3. The Office
This show reminds me of college and my girlfriends there, not to mention it's hilarious! My mom always tells me that I'm living 'The Office' in my job...we dont have pretzel day though.

Bible Study started this week, and Heart to Heart kicks off this weekend, I'm really looking forward to this year, and to what God's going to do!

Happy Tuesday!

Moonlight and Games

As promised some photos from out Lake Michigan Moonlight Sail! it was a beautiful night!

The Girls

This boat was called Dutch Chocolate!

Mom and Me on the boat

I love the sail on this boat!

Sunset on Lake Michigan

The Moon!

And now here's some shots from the first youth group meeting of the year, the games were hilarious and the kids really got into it, I think it's going to be a great year!! :)

Waiting to have their card drawn!

No hands, no face...except Chris is obviously cheating!

Drinking...who knows what!?

Passing the lifesaver, girls win!

Throwing cheesepuffs into your friend's whipped cream face!

It's been a busy week and weekend; my girlfriends and I went camping, I'm going to attempt to get those up tomorrow!

Happy Monday!

Friend Making Monday

I look forward to this everyweek, even if I'm only reading other people's posts! This week's question is:

What are some of your favorite things about Fall?

I like the term Autumn for one, it's so graceful and beautiful.

New clothes! and colors of clothes!

UofM football on the radio in the background!

Bright, happy mums!

Harvest time, particularly Michigan apples and apple products they just cant be beat!

Halloween and Thanksgiving!

I could go on and on, I think Autumn is my favorite season, it's still usually very comfortable to be outside and SO beautiful around here. Head over to Amber's to see other's postings and join in on the fun.

I hope everyone had a great Labor Day weekend, I have some photos of a sunset sail on Lake Michigan to post soon.

Happy Monday - Christ has taken our sins away!

Minor League

Monday Night our church did an outing at the Whitecaps, West Michigan's Minor League Baseball team. There are very few other summer outings I love more than a night at the ballpark! The theme that night was so West Michigan I love it - 1/2 off tickets if you bring your church bulletin and $0.50 hotdogs!! Cheap and cheaper!! haha Here are a few photos from the evening -

5/3 Ball Park

Mom and Jeff, trying to avoid a triple chin!

Brittany and Leah - Best Friends!

The Korphages - This photo totally sums Chase up...

Nora the Nomad! so cute, we had fun dancing!

Yesterday was my SIL Lindsay's birthday, but they up and moved to the Dominican Republic, so even though we couldnt celebrate with her, we did sing Happy Birthday and have cake in her honor! You can follow their adventure on her blog.

Happy Thursday!

When you have it, you have it

And when you dont you dont. I just got back from running, and it was certainly worth writing about, I think anyway. I'm turning over a new working out leaf in September, it was supposed to be August but my social calendar got in the way. Anyway, I started out running and not even a half mile into it, I start smelling blueberry muffins, I mean come on, that's a serious insult to someone who's trying to get fit. This isnt just a passing whif either, I'm going past the industrial bakery, it lingers for about a mile! Well so then I'm probably 3 miles through, and some old dude calls out, 'How far are you going?' so I say, '4 miles!' he says, 'Better pick up the pace a little then!' Seriously old dude, I know I'm running slow, I had just admitted that to myself, but I dont need you telling me! shesh! So I must have been flustered, bc not 30 steps later, I'm avoiding a 'sidewalk closed' sign and I totally trip on a hidden bump! I go flying forward trying to save myself and end up catching myself, almost in push up position. I skinned my knee, palms and my thigh (I dont know how I did that), and my shoulders hurt a little from the jolt. Oye...I still had a mile to go! But I made it, and I'm doing well! Leaf turned over!

Anywhoo I have pictures from the Whitecaps game last night that I'll try to get up soon, and Happy 8 year Anniversary to my brother Nate and his wife Andrea! Check out her cutie blog if you get a chance!

Happy Tuesday!

Friend Making Tuesday

So this is my first Crack at this, I'm not sure I linked up correctly, and I'm a day late - but here goes!

1. Do you cook every night?
No no no, I help out some nights, and I'm a good restaurant suggester!

2. What kind of laundry detergent do you use & why?
All Small and Mighty - It fits in the cupboard better!

3.Do you do laundry everyday or loads at a time?
Loads, load it up and get it done.

4. How often do you eat out per week?
I try to eat lunch out only once a week, and dinner I'd say 3-4 depending how the weekend shapes up.

5. Where do you usually eat out?
Qdoba, Eclectic Eatery, Salvatores, Cherry Street Deli, Marie Catribs - I like lunch spots and I always try to support the biz by going to customers.

6. What is your favorite retail store?
Target - There are so many possibilities and practicalities in there!

7. What's your favorite thing to drink?
Cherry Coke Zero - YUM!

8. Do you take vitamins? What Kind?
I did the other day, I was fighting a cold. Zinc and E for that. Sometimes I get good about taking a One a Day Multi but I'm not on that lately.

9. What percentage of the household chorse do you do?
Umm I think 10-15% Sometimes it seems more, but it's really not.

10. Do your children do chores? (Or will they?)
No kids, but I did them when I was a kid, so they'll do them too. I think it helped me learn that things have to be done around the house, they dont just magically happen.

11. Do you go to church?
Yep - I feel like I'm there all the time! I help out with our youth group, so I guess I am there pretty frequently.

12. Do you have a housework schedule?
No, other than mess it up - clean it up!

13. Do you keep a working budget?
For those of you who really know me you know this is a definitely!! I am a Dave Ramsey fan, and I'm walking in complete Financial Peace. No money in the envelope means no buying means no debt means no stress!!!! YAY!!!

14. What do you do at night as a family?
Eat dinner, and do our own thing. Family dinners used to be a bigger deal until some people up and moved to the Domincan Republic! :)

15. How do you prepare yourself for a new week?
I try to get to bed sorta on time Sunday nights, and if I've been out of town for the weekend I try to get home and unpack everything before I go to bed Sunday night.

16.What do your mornings look like?
Hop out of bed and try to leave the house by 7:30...7:38 this morning :/

17. What time do you get up in the mornings?
6:30ish...it's been so hard lately!

18. What time do you go to bed at night?
It depends how pooped I am. The other night I feel asleep at 8...after Jeopardy! Usually more like 10:30-11.

19. How do you manage all of the paperwork that floods into your household? (Bills, school work, magazines, ads, ect.)
I have to confess if it's official looking I've been known to put it on my counter for more than a week before opening it, I avoid it I dont know why! Anything else I'm a open it, take it on, deal with it and trash it. Or stack it in a prioritized pile until I need it.

20. How do you keep your household organized? (calendars, charts, etc.)
I'm a list maker for myself and a planner user, also the prioritized pile so it's not out of sight out of mind. But I'm just one person, I think if I had a fam I'd have to do something way different!

This was kinda a weird FMM to join in on, since I dont have a family, but still fun, I look forward to next Monday...or Tuesday! Head over to Amber's to join in on the fun and read other lists!

Happy Day!