onwards and upwards

I am not abandoning my blog! However, I've been busy with the new job. And not in a terrible, worked-to-death way.

I'll update you with some goodies :)

What a peach :)

HP's Halloweens

I was emptying pictures off our camera and came across some of HP's greatest Halloween hits :)

2010: Baby Scarecrow 

2011: Tiny Parrot 

HP and his best friend cowboy Eli

2012: Little Boy Buzz

Good Tidings

So much has happened around here this last month. All of it good! HP got to spend a lot of quality time with his cousins and aunties from the west coast. He greeted Katie who returned from Yellowstone by giving her the name Keke. I was offered a new job! Which I happily accepted and will begin this coming week. We're all feeling pretty happy around here :)

Harrison and I posing for a pre-Trick or Treating picture. He (or rather his daddy) chose to be Buzz Lightyear.

I said goodbye to my little friends at my charter school a week ago. I am starting a new job at the corporate headquarters this coming Monday. Eeek.

One thing I have to figure out, and fast, is what to wear! For the first time in 6 years I don't have to do calisthenics in front of a mirror to make sure my outfit is school appropriate while sitting, standing, bending and sitting on the floor.

I am already sad to think I wont see my normal groups on Monday morning.

My pride and joy, my bulletin board!

My sweet boy. 

Fall

 Tis the season for running through leaves, chasing squirrels, playing hide-and-seek, picking pumpkins and eating our weight in apples and doughnuts. We are on our game. That is probably the best explanation for my lack of updates. That and the less exciting, simpler events that mark the passage of time. The soccer practices and games, the adult ESL tutoring, the general up-keeping of the house, all those things that I can do by heart now. It keeps me moving.

But instead of being weighed down by the fact that all these littles add up to a big day I feel good about almost everything that I do. And that is a great feeling. Kind of like registering for college courses and finding you've gotten into all your top choices and they all start after 10am with no Friday class. I think I registered my semester of life well this time.

There is still a laundry list of Fall to-dos, but I'm not stressing. I'll get to it if I do. Right now I'm relishing in these bits of lovliness: a friend's baby announcement, a possible career shift (trying not to hold my breath), a baby shower, two completed knit projects, dinners with friends, and the fact that TODAY my little HP looked at me and said 'Mama'. He decided this morning to actually address me by that name (after all this while!) and I could not be happier to hear his sweet voice.

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

Fun Friday

Alma Mater

Recently, Jon and I took a road trip to my alma mater, my first one anyway. What do you call your graduate school? Hmmm.

Aside from some growing and building, the feeling of being on campus was the very same. The students weren't yet walking around in sweats tucked into Uggs, but they were wearing the warm-weather equivelent to that dress code. Maize and blue was everywhere and packs of freshmen girls sauntered across the diag as bros gave big, back-slapping hellos to eachother.  Ah sweet college.


Would you do college any differently? Everyone I know would answer a resounding yes to re-doing high school differently in some way, but college is another story I think. Hopefully you had passed through that terribly awkward self-aware time of the teen years and emerged a more secure person in time to live out your college dreams. Did you?

In celebration of it being a full ten years since I began my college experience I will do what I love best. Without further introduction here is my list of top 10 best and worst moments of attending the University of Michigan!

BEST

1. living in Stockwell, an all girls dorm my freshman year- although devoid of hotties without shirts, the hygenic atmosphere and stellar food made up for it
2. playing on the women's rugby team my senior year- travelling to tournaments, drinking too much, and learning ridiculously lewd songs, all in the presence of very fun ladies
3. living the true freshman girl experience with my own pack of friends, wandering from dorm rooms to frat parties and back
4. studying abroad in Finland my junior year- I couln't name all the amazing things I did and saw, but the best are the friends I made and still have from all over
5. living with and working alongside my sister- a very different experience than living with a sister under your parent's roof
6. chatting on AIM with that sweet crush from H.S. and having him come visit me that fall...and keep visiting all 4 years
7. trying out and participating in the campus orchestra- even though I was last chair I still loved playing my cello
8. having tickets to every home football game the 3 years I lived in AA, the highlight being my senior year FRONT row student section with my friends
9. graduating with a solid 3.5 GPA and a job offer lined up
10. being a Wolverine, even though I thought I had my heart set on Notre Dame, UofM proved to be the best place for that quintessential college experience, and I am still proud to wear one of my many UM tees just like any true alumni would
     

WORST

1. gaining my freshman 20 10 and hanging on to it for far too long!
2. getting so very sick after an epic night out whereafter I swore off the demon drink as I lay in the fetal position at the bottom of my dorm shower...shame shame
3. withdrawing from ECON 101 only to retake the class the following year and get a hard-fought C, clearly not my strong suit
4. making bad decisions about my major- if I could have a do-over I'd have taken more Spanish and Physiology and Anatomy
5. not taking Physics- I really liked it in HS and did well in it, so why didn't I go for it? I could've been somebody!
6. working too much- I got a job within a week of moving there and had one throughout
7. being shy- come on Laura! Get over yourself! Well, that's what I wish I caould've said to me back then...
8. Not purchasing any required reading materials...did I mention I was so so cheap? Yes...I tried my best to read them at Borders or get them fron the library, but I always managed to get the wrong edition!
9. living in AA during the summer when NO one was around and all I did was work, sweat and watch too many movies
10. burning bridges with some friends, not typical of me and I still am bummed how some friendships just arn't able to last