Bittersweet!

Well it is the change of seasons, it was 66 degrees at it's warmest today, which makes for the perfect day for the first day of school. Sam started 2nd grade today. He is 7 and already a 2nd grader, my how time flies. He picked out his clothes, black jeans, plaid shirt, suit jacket, a stripped tie and a pocket square to match. He was in love with this outfit. And why wouldn't he be - he look so adorable...and grown up... and older than 7!

Isn't he so cute?

 

 

 

Arlo will start pre-school next week, hard to believe how quickly they grow up. I feel it was just yesterday that I moved here and Sam was in Kindergarten.

Bonnie took the plunge and moved to D.C. She seems to be glad to be out there with Scott and enjoying the city, for the most part. Minus the two natural disasters that happened in her first week of living there. So with her gone that means I have no roommate, and a lot of extra space to fill. I thought it was going to take me months to fill these rooms, but out of no where great deals on furniture have fallen in my lap. Just before she moved I found some awesome end tables and a coffee table, all 3 for $90. They are large and have great storage.

Here is one end table - yes they open up!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So that was great to fill the living room. Then my office was going to be completely empty... I mean totally - the house had an echo because nothing was in there. So after MONTHS of looking craigslist for just the right desk, at just the right price I found it! And I was glad that I held out because this is exactly what I pictured in that room.

Now I still have Bonnie's old room, the guest bedroom to fill. I have two guest bedrooms but Amanda and Matt were nice enough to let me store a twin bed of theirs in my third bedroom. They had it in their basement so why not put it up here where it can be used. But her bedroom is big enough to hold a queen or larger bed. I knew that my bed was getting old (I bought it 10 years ago for $300) but I still love it and wasn't sure I would be able to part with it. Until a co-worker offered me her king bed, head board, foot board, box spring, and posterpedic pillow top mattress all for $250. Can't pass that up. So the king will go in my room and my queen in Bonnie's old room. Pictures to come once I pick it up on Saturday!

The last thing I bought was a love seat for some out door seating. I had fallen in love with this seat a K-Mart earlier in the summer. They wanted $340 for it - CRAZY! There was no way in hell I was paying that, but I knew I loved it. So I stalked it - once August hit I checked back about every other weekend to see if or how much it was marked down. Finally about 2 weeks before labor day they marked it down to $100. I couldn't resist, it was mine. I have it set up out front so you can sit in it and watch all the happenings on the corner. Don't worry it is chained in place to the tree behind it. No one is stealing this!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

New place to read my Kindle!

With Bonnie gone it has been a little lonely here. There are times when I come home and think that it would be great to have someone here. Overall I like having my house to myself, but I miss having my friend in town. The whole thing is bittersweet.

I have loved watching Sam, Arlo and Otis grow up. They are amazing kids and I am looking forward to watching them discover who they are going to be. But having them little is fun, fun to watch them enjoy life, find the pleasure in the little things and remind me what it was like to be a kid. I don't want to lose that as they grow up. Bittersweet!

Summer... Summer... Summertime!

Last summer my sister and I took the boys to Virginia for a week to visit our 3 cousins, their families, and our Aunt and Uncle (my mother's brother).We loved it so much we decided to try to make it an annual thing. We just got back, from what I hope will continue to be, our annual trip. Back in the 70's my Aunt and Uncle bought a plot of land and built a house on Hyco Lake in northern North Carolina. It is always a fun family hang out.
I have many memories of Mom, Dad, Amanda and I going to Virginia to visit as a child or them coming to Maine to visit with us. We didn't get to see them every year, but when we did get time together, we have always had a blast. This year was no different.
We have grown very close to this side of the family over the years. When I lived in Charlotte, NC I would drive up to Virginia for long weekends, football games, or just to hang at the house or Hyco Lake.
We always stay with my Aunt Pat and Uncle Bill. Our cousins live just a few miles away with their families.
This year we went to visit for 6 days. We stayed Monday and Tuesday at Aunt Pat and Uncle Bill's. The boys loved that, they have a pool. Or as Otis calls it a "cool". They pretty much spent all day of those two days in the pool. Amanda, Matt and I worked some from a patio over looking the pool, swam with the boys and laid by the pool.

The view while working

Wed-Saturday night were spent at the Lake house. We went tubing, jet skiing for boat rides. We filled our days with dockside, water fun. And of course some great southern cooking. There is and will always be an abundance of food at their house and it is fantastic! Until you get home and your pants don't fit. But I am willing to work out a little harder this week to make up for it, well worth it.

 

Amanda and the boys taking a paddle boat ride. 

Cousin Brandon teaching Sam how to drive the Pontoon Boat.

 

The house Aunt Pat and Uncle Bill built in the 70's is great. I mean come on, who is really in the house when at the lake? But the families are getting bigger and the house seems to be getting smaller. So they are building a new one. It wasn't done yet, but should be by our trip next year. We are so excited. 

 

Old Lake house - where we stayed this year. 

 

                                                                      New lake house we hope to be in next year!

Busy Time!

Well, it is that time of year again... Relay Season. It is my favorite season and also the most exhausting. So to add more to this exhausted time, I have decided to start another blog with some friends of mine. Dessert Girls... we will travel though Lansing, order just dessert and then blog about how great (or not so great) those desserts our. Our goal, to get more women to eat dessert and to eat more dessert. :)
No really, no goals, we just thought it would be fun. So check it out, I will be writing our first post soon!

http://dessertgirls.blogspot.com/

Good Life!

We're young enough to say

Oh this has gotta be the good life

This has gotta be the good life

This could really be a good life, good life

Wow, life seems to be flying by in a blink of an eye. I have now been in Michigan for just over 14 months, I have been in my house for 8 months. None of that seems possible, yet I feel like I have lived a lifetime in this state, a good lifetime.

The past month has been fun. I spent Bonnie's birthday/St. Patrick's Day with her and some good friends out on the town watching the begingin of March Madness. We acted a fool sometimes while out, but it was a good time, and just what I needed that week. It is begining to be Relay season which means the stress is starting to hit. So having nights like this are well worth it.

Otis turned two this month. Amanda threw a popcorn party for him. He is big, talking and constantly asking for "ca-corn." So he loved that. The house was a disaster, but all that means was that it was fun. It is hard to believe that he is two, until the tantrums start. He is usually a pretty happy boy, but he does have those two year old tantrums. Here are some pictures of the party.

And to finish off a great month; Amanda came over on Saturday of last weekend and helped me get some things done around the house. We had originally planned on cleaning my gutters, but the weather was freezing cold and the ladder we needed was larger than the truck we had to get it over here. So that plan was quashed. We mainly focused on indoor activites. We went through some items that my father brought here at Christmast time from the house in Maine. We picked up some pavers and firewood from Jane Stevenson. The last and most fantastic thing we accomplished (drum roll please...) Amanda made my curtians for the living room. She spent a good chunk of the day running around time getting supplies for the curtains, but we got them done and they look great. Pictures to follow soon I promise. This is a great thing because the large, main window in the living room looks directly out at a well used bus stop. So having a curtain in there is great.
In trade I took all three of the boys on Sunday for about 5 hours so Amanda and Matt could have a few hours alone in the house to move some furniture around. I took the boys to impression 5 ( a local children's museam). We ran around there for about an hour. Then the weather has warmed up enough that I took them to a playground (fully fenced in) so they could REALLY run around. Finally, we all came back to my house for a dinner of pizza. They had a good time and were wipped when the day was done.

This weekend as also been a good one. The Grieshops are out of town and my roommate had to leave unexpectedly for Miami today. So I have the house to myself, I kind of like it. I have gotten a lot accomplished, cleaned, online stuff, paid bills etc. I got onto Amanda's blog today and read what she had written about the past month. Our lives intertwine so much, yet each of our takes are so different. In her blog she spoke about a mother blessing that she held for a friend. She linked that friend's blog also speaking about the mother blessing. Her friend said such amazing things about my sister. They were all things I already knew, but hearing someone else, not her family, say these amazing things made me so proud. Proud to call her my sister, proud to be related to her, proud to know her.

I truely am lucky, I know that my life might not be perfect. I know that there are things that I can complain about, things that I would like to be different. Everybody has those. But over all I am incredibly lucky. I love my life, my family, my friends and my house. I have a great job that fulfills me and supports me. I don't think I could ask for much more. Just when I was feeling happy and lucky I came across a song that described my feeling perfectly. It made me smile and has quickly become my go to song. You know, the song you put on when you are having a bad day because you just know it will make you feel better; the song that makes you want to dance and move the second you turn it on; the song that you could hear over and over again and never get sick of it. The song that makes you feel like you have a Good Life.

Sometimes there's airplanes I can' t jump out

Sometimes there's bullshit that don't work now

We all got our stories but please tell me

What there is to complain about

When you're happy like a fool

Let it take you over

When everything is out

You gotta take it in

Oh this has gotta be the good life

This has gotta be the good life

This could really be a good life, good life

Say oh, got this feeling that you can't fight

Like this city is on fire tonight

This could really be a good life

A good, good life



Snow Days!

I haven't had a snow day in years; since high school or maybe college. Had I stayed in Maine I would have had plenty this year, I think they have about 6 feet of snow (no joke). Here in Michigan, we had been having, what people called, "a pretty mild winter." That is until yesterday.

On Monday the news started reporting the snowpocolypse of 2011. They were saying 16-20 inches of snow would fall from Tuesday around 5pm til Wednesday (today) at 7pm. The city went nuts, schools were closing by 3pm, ACS had closed by 3pm. That is when the gittiness started, the "I don't have school tomorrow" excited feeling that I used to get as a school aged child came. I knew that I would work from home some.. in my pj's. So that night my roommate, Bonnie, and I decided to have some friends over for "the storm." Kristen, a co-worker/friend and Adam a friend came over for the night. We had pizza, played board games and just hung out. It was nice, I felt a little like a teenager again.

This morning I woke up to the smell of french toast and egg and cheese sandwiches. After breakfast we all buckled down and worked some; Bonnie, Kristen and I worked on ACS stuff, while Adam studied for the bar.

Bonnie made snow angles

 But don't worry we were not all work and no play, we also had some fun outside in the snow.


I shoveled!





Adam started snow fights.



Kristen looked cute:)

All in all it was a great snow day!