A Fall Tradition + a wedding + NYC = Autum 2013 Update

What a great month :) Not only am I not travelling for work every week, I am really getting to enjoy the best part of the year with some of the best people I know.

ArtPrize Brunch 2013 was a success. The weather was perfect, the company happy, the coffee was flowing and the art was abundant.

Nope, we can't fit that ducky in your tub.

Our little puzzle piece

One big, mossy fisherman 

True to form, I just don't take pictures of guests. So you'll have to use your imagination and just trust me when I say there was more than just HP and I :)

Jon and I hadn't really celebrated our 5 year wedding anniversary properly last June, so we waited for our friend's wedding celebration in NYC this Fall to go all out. We gave HP to my parents for a long weekend (he promptly said bye and went about his business of play- ouch), jumped on the plane and landed in NYC for an ideal wedding weekend.

We were able to stay at my friend's apartment, which conveniently was located 5 minutes away from the wedding :)

reunited with my besties 

Had a cute date 

Threw on a dress 

grabbed a drink, or two or three

and watched as my beautiful friend got married

then danced the night away 

under a canopy of lights :)

A Balancing Act

Happy Labor Day Weekend, I know I need it. It has been a big month and I've reached the halfway marker (I hope) of my traveling. On the whole I'm feeling good and confident about my travels and work life. However, it has thrown my life balance off. I knew going into this that it wold be a challenging start to the school year, and so far it's holding true. It's just a lot of work for one person to do. So, it's my Fall goal to put those two worlds in harmony once more. 

How will I do that?! Well, I've top-loaded my year with traveling specifically to get it out of the way in one go. I'm killing several birds by hosting conferences rather than visiting each individual school and doing my best to set up a network of collaboration, thereby spreading a little of the responsibility to others. It's a start.

So what's on the Fall Fun Family agenda? Lots! The Annual Art Prize brunch, hooray! A trip with Jon to NYC for a long weeding weekend, awesome! Picking apples at Klackle, yum. Plenty of Michigan football games, go blue! Coffee dates with friends, love me some coffee. Watching HP play in a YMCA sport-sampler league of 3-5 year-olds, hehe. Putting on my favorite boots. Pumpkin spice lattes and crispy evening walks. Delicious.

HP saw his first movie in the theater :)

Spring Recap and Intro to Summer

I finally was able to get around to pulling the pictures off my phone. Although I do really like my phone and its picture capabilities I miss my real camera. Poor thing, all tucked away in a drawer.

Playing in the lilacs with my boys

Tulip Time in Holland with my parents 

Enjoying Festival of the Arts downtown GR

Camping in Manistee, MI

Growing some pretty tall peas! 

And tomorrow I set off for Dallas, TX. My last work trip of the 2012-13 School Year. I'm attending a bilingual professional development in the great city of Pittsburgh, TX. Haven't heard of it? Neither had I...

Summer Series: Modified Version 2013

Well, it is finally sinking in that for the first time in about 24 years I do not have my Summer 'off''. This is going to be a hard fact to swallow.

2012 I had 6 weeks of Summer, a far cry from the almost 3 months I experienced while teaching in NYC. But I managed to fully enjoy that Summer with HP and Jon.

Summer 2013 is going to challenge me. But I will salvage it by creating 3-day weekends for the foreseeable future! I hadn't taken any vacation days since accepting the new job, so I'm left with 2 weeks to get rid of before July 1st steals them away. Thus begins my first Summer Vacation Day! Here's the schedule:

1. Have a yummy breakfast with HP @Wealthy Street Bakery

2. Buy my tomato plants and gardening materials @Flowerland

3. Spin Class @YMCA downtown

4. Watch a solo movie (Star Trek) @Celebration North

5. Plant my garden

6. A tiny nap

7. Pick up HP and have a relaxing dinner with the family 

There it is in a nutshell! My glorious Summer Day :) Future days will include visiting my friend in Holland, biking around Reeds Lake, lounging in the EGR library, getting my nails done, maybe a haircut, a day at the beach and countless cups of coffee at each of my favorite locations! Care to join me?

Before I head upstairs to spin class (I love that the Y has a lounge area and a good Internet connection) I will say Happy Birthday weekend to my little HP! He enjoyed a giant baseball cake with his 2 best friends Bridget and Eli. A perfect birthday for a little boy :)

Art Prize 2012

2012

I love seeing Grand Rapids at its best, and I think Art Prize is one of those times. I was geeked to start planning my house party. And true to form, I changed all plans at the last minute. I decided to play it cheap and delicious instead of pricey and delectable. So instead of buying my weight in cinnamon rolls from my favorite GR bakery (Wealthy Street) I spent Friday night listening to Adele and making baby quiches and a cinnamon swirl bundt. Gotta love a quiche that you can fill with a bunch of yumminess, some of which that came right out of the backyard. Pinterest also helped me out with a recipe for pumpkin spice latte, yum.

2011

Oh man what was I wearing here? Crazytown. You know, you can tell me when I'm looking a less than sweet. Keep that in mind Jon :)

 All three of these pictures are in front of the Eberhard Center, the site of our 2008 wedding reception. How cute :)

Oh, yes. I did chop my hair this past week. As these pictures will tell you it has been more than 3 years since I've had short hair. It's looking a little Momish right now...still working it out. I did donate 12 full inches to Locks for Love. Whew.

2010

Fredrick Meijer Gardens

One of the best things we did this year was to purchase a year membership to Fredrick Meijer Gardens and Sculpture Park foraroun $85. We have used it countless times. The best thing about it is that I don't feel bad having to cut my plans short due to a whining/screaming/or sleeping HP. We can go for 30 minutes and it is still worthwhile.

Jon's new job allows him a much later start to the work day (9:30 as opposed to like 6) so we've been able to drop him off downtown and head off to a weekend adventure just the two of us. FMG opens at 9 so it's perfect for avoiding lines and too many packs of crazy kids. It's a lot like wandering in to the Secret Garden, except not so secret, and pretty packed on its busy days! Get there early!



 



 

 

A Blast from the Past

H's mind will be blown when I tell him about living in the olden days of sub 2000s. It seems comical even now to think that my parent's hulking, brown conversion van had a sweet car phone, that I didn't have a cell phone til college, that I had to step away from the computer for several minutes while it noisily dialed up.  You just can't commit to any one piece of technology. It'll change next year.

But some things stick around and feel the same regardless of however long you've been away from it. Like the best friend that you fell out of touch, it just feels normal and easy to get right back to talking to them when next you meet. Lake Michigan is like that in a way. The dunes are always moving but it all feels the same. H, Jon and I drove to a beach I've been going to since I was a little girl. It's so surreal to see your own child experience your own past experiences, like seeing double.

That same feeling happened last night at my 10 Year high school reunion. That double-vision of seeing people you knew (or didn't recall knowing) all jam-packed in a bar. I made the rounds talking to many familiar faces, but just as easily found myself happily sitting with those friends that you can just fall back into natural conversation.

Yay for friends like these :) 



 That shirt and pizza just says it all :)

Art Prize!

I BIG reason to love Grand Rapids is that it created and hosts Art Prize! Last year was the first one and I'm sorry to say that even though we lived downtown at the time we did not take full advantage of the festivities. In fact the only 2 art works that stand out in memory was the giant table and chairs and Nessie. This year we have been there twice and still have only seen maybe 20% of the pieces.

Giant Spike!

Diftwood faces and animals

Scrap metal dragon! 

I don't know...but I think its really interesting 

Elephants on parade! Their heads bob up and down in the wind

And my favorite so far is...

because it is SO intricate and modeled after the Red String of Fate

How long did it take her to make all those!? 

Anyway, we had a great time with friends wandering and wondering at the art. If you're anywhere near GR you've got to go. I'm even thinking of adding a thing to my List of 27 for next year- make an entry for art prize.