Romy and Michelle

If it was 2002 again and I asked myself what I would be in 10 years I know I'd be 100% wrong.

I was doing a little Romy and Michelleing this week (as the big 10 Year reunion looms ahead) and I came up with these 4 markers of well-being.

a. relationship/family status
b. physical health/well being
c. job description/salary
d. location, location, location

As of today I believe my ranking from best to worst would be as follows;
a,b,d,c
with a general score of 2.5 out of 4 (I gave location a .5 as I am generally happy but still pinning away for NYC).

So, as of today, how would you rank yourself?

Summer Series 2012! (part 1 of 6)

I have exactly 6 weeks of summer vacation to take advantage of. Ready go!

Week 1 of vacation got of to an admittedly rocky start for me. I woke up Friday morning with a timy HP nestled in my arms. Ever since H was born my arms have become thermometers, and they were registering a slight fever. He was in fantastic spirits so I wished it away and went about the day.

Yeah, it got no better, worse in fact. He was a flaming torch by the end of the day. It was all we could do to watch tv and movies while he slept in my arms. Counting down the hours til I could give him another dose of tylenol. So instead of enjoying a co workers bonfire, I stayed at home with H.

Happily things turned around Saturday, aside from being warm throughout much of the day H was a happy camper. I even got to leave him with my parents to join my friend for the Saugatauk Film Festival. Which happily lets me cross another one of the list . I'll count Saugatauk as a place I haven't been to before. It was very cute, walkable and I'd love to go back to enjoy some water sports.

I'd been meaning to get over to this festival for awhile now, and I would love to go back again next year.Check out our movie choice Wild Horse Wild Ride here. I really enjoyed it and would totally reccommend it as a feel-good movie.

Here's a peak at my Summer to do list:

go to the beach

eat brunch with friends a lot

visit Chicago

Zoo trips

see Fiona Apple in concert

Children's Museum

hang with sister Kellie

trip to Ann Arbor (trader joes and ikea!)

camping trip

etc, etc. :)

Care to join me in any of that? :)

Sleeping Beauty

It's been more than a week now and sweet little HP has happily transitioned to his own twin-sized bed. And even better is that I no longer stay in there til he's asleep. I can ask for a hug, which he'll give and a wave good-bye.

His current favorite bed time books are:

There's a Nightmare in My Attic

Me Too

Nicholas Cricket

Goodnight Moon 

Pink Heels on a 2 Year Old

Only 4 and a half more days until summer vacation begins! Quick fact about me: I have had summer breaks since entering kindergarten circa 1990. And I do not plan on giving that up. Because this is what I would be missing:

Real juxtaposition going on here

 Watching fennel and spinach grow

Watching what will likely be one small plate of salad grow

Hoping to eventually make salsa

Creating chalk masterpieces

Wondering what kind of fruit tree I have in my backyard

Honestly, you tell me what this is and I'll do ten back flips in your honor.



Playdate in Pictures

I got to see my bff's from High School today, complete with their sweet babies(and husbands too!) 

Well of course we had to try to do a group shot :) 

My personal favorite is the first one :) Oh...I was just borrowing that sweet 6 week old bundle in my arms, she belongs to Jen :)

Big Boy

HP is napping upstairs! On his very own floor mattress big boy bed! I was a bit more apprehensive about how he'd do napping than sleeping overnight. But yay him (so far)! I've had to lie on the bed with him both times now until he's asleep, and really that is more sweet than annoying. It was a little tricky today though as he really loves tangling his hands in my way-too-long hair. I had to do a Indiana Jones maneuver to get out of it. I quickly switched my head with Mr. Bear. I guess we are similar enough because I was free and tip-toed away.

In other news, we have laundry in the house again! I said enough was enough with the laundromat and bought a used washer for $100 on craigslist. I love that site. My father-in-law helped Jon get it connected and even fixed the gas leak in the dryer. Awesome, so no more crispy towels from being hung out on the line. That is not going to stop me, however, from hanging out the rest of the laundry. Sorry Jon.

Friends, Family, Festivals and Fiascos

H and I had a very lovely long weekend, which began after I got out of work Wednesday. We were joined by Kathryn, my good friend from NYC. She'd been travelling the far reaches of the world so of cource Grand Rapids was next on her list :) 

 We showed her the sights of GR, including the misting pool at Rosa Parks. H loved it so much he threw his hat into it...

Not much was on the agenda outside of taking it easy. We did a lot of that. But Friday evening we joined my visiting sister Kellie and my mom for the ride up to Alma to experience the one and only Highland Festival! Did you know Alma is Scotland, USA?

Well it is:) We have fond memories of visiting my Abuelita's house in Alma and watching the parade and highland games.

 Complete with bloody marys :)

 We had great seats thanks to my Uncle. HP got a great view of the parade.

 Many different views of the parade :)

Which actually didn't turn out to be a great thing...

It sounds crazy and it was really surreal, but we witnessed a freak accident at that parade. One of the floats carrying several passengers tripped up and literally ran over a woman walking alongside of it. She is okay (as far as I know) but she most definately went under a wheel and was trapped under that float for at least 30 minutes before being carted off in the ambulance.

And then everything went back to normal.

Yeah, crazy.

Speaking of crazy, have you ever seen a caber toss? The different clansmen tried their hands at tossing a giant log (like a telephone pole).

The strong man gets the "pick", then does the caber dance to get his balance before tossing it upwards to make it flip over. Some were successful, some not.

It was a fun-filled, dramatic week :)