December 18, 2011: Bridge Young Adult Christmas Party

I joined the Bridge Young Adult group through church a few years ago. I hadn't been able to go to many of the events, but wanted to get involved more with this group of young people.    Alicia Belrose and I went to Matthew and Heather Conlin's house in Spring Lake for the 2nd Annual Crazy Christmas Sweater Party.      Unfortunately, I wasn't able to attend last year.


My co-workers, Donna Syers and Linda Borgerding, found a bunch of cute things in their sewing rooms and put them on the Christmas sweater I found at Hope's Outlet.     I went around to several of those stores for a crazy looking sweater and this is the only place that even had a Christmas sweater, so I grabbed it.
Donna and Linda spent one morning sewing on all of the pieces to the sweater. It sure was crazy looking.


I wore it to this church Christmas party.   I ended up being the winner of the crazy Christmas sweater contest which was fantastic.  I met some nice people at the party and enjoyed some good food.

November 1, 2011: New 2011 Honda CRV

I decided to go to the local Honda dealership to look at the Honda CRV, which is the car I have always wanted.    I took a test drive of the car and got a quote on it.  I wasn't sure if I would be approved for a loan, given the fact, I had just finished a credit counseling program and wasn't sure what was my current credit score. I told God that if I was meant to get this car, then I would be approved for my own loan at the 1.9% interest rate. If I didn't get it at that interest rate, then it wasn't for me.   I was shocked to find out that my credit score was just high enough to get my own loan, as well as the 1.9% interest rate.   I told my mom about it, as I didn't want to buy the car without her approval.   She reluctantly agreed to let me get it, so we went back to the dealership to look at colors. Originally, I was going to get black, but then my mom convinced me to get the metallic gray, as it wouldn't show the dirt as much, so that is what I bought.       I did enjoy my Honda Civic when I had it and was very thankful I was able to pay it off the year before.    The dealership gave me $11,000 for the trade-in value which helped me out.      I was so excited to go pick up my new dream car.      

September 23, 2011: Josh Maitner's Painting

One of my co-workers, Josh Maitner, is an artist. I have always wanted him to paint me a piece of work to hang above my sofa in my next home.     It turned out great.   I looked at a bunch of his work on his facebook page and saw one that caught my eye.       He charged me $300 for it.  I can't wait to put it on my wall.

September 17, 2011: Hampton Green Farm

My mom and I went to a charity benefit at Hampton Green Farm at 5440 E. Farr Rd. in Fruitport.  We went to this about 7 years ago, but my mom wanted to go back again.     We paid $10 and had a nice meal and horse show.   The couple who own this farm stay here from May to mid October and then take the horses down to Wellington, Florida from October to May.   The horse show was very nice.  Then, we took a tour through the stables and got to pet the horses.  Some of the horses were very friendly.     One of the horses grabbed the scarf I had on and tried to eat it.      I had a hard time getting the scarf out of his mouth.    Luckily, a nice man helped me out.

Each horse had a window to look out of into the pasture.      I still have this memory of one of the horses looking out the window at me when we went outside.      It was as if he was not wanting me to go.    

September 11, 2011: Our Photo Shoot with Minda Schouten-Floyd in Grand Rapids

My friend, Betsy's daughter, Minda, started a photography business so I decided to have her take some pictures of my Mom, Maggie, and I in downtown Grand Rapids.    I picked the last day of the Art Prize which probably wasn't the best thing to do, as it was so crowded.    It was a beautiful, sunny autumn day, which was fantastic.     It was nice to be able to walk around Art Prize after the photo shoot.    Maggie had a good time, too.

August 27, 2011: Brittanie's First Plane Ride

I saw this activity through Big Brother Big Sister that I thought Brittanie may like to do.    There is a mentoring program in Ottawa County that has additional activities.    This activity was to learn how to drive a plane.These pilots volunteer their time, as well as their personal planes for this event.   There is an association out of Wisconsin that offers the experience to take flying lessons for youth up to age 17.  The first step is to ride in a plane with a licensed pilot.  If the child wants to continue the path to flying, they can be sponsored by the organization to take flying lessons and then continue on until they become a pilot.   I am glad Brittanie was able to experience her first plane ride.   

August 24, 2011: 37th Birthday

Wow, I can't believe I am 37 yrs old today. Where did the time go?     In just one year, I will be the same age as my father when he passed away.    It was so nice to get on my facebook and see all of these wonderful "Happy Birthday" messages from all of my friends and family.     Wendy said that her girls still are wearing the necklaces every day. I bought them the necklaces on our camping trip a few weeks ago in Silver Lake.   That makes me happy that they enjoy them.

I bought a Ryke's butter creme frosting cake with Bavarian cream frosting to share with my co-workers.    It was as delicious as ever.

My mom and I went to Olive Garden for their never-ending pasta which was delicious. It was angel hair pasta with this alfredo sauce and sun dried tomatoes. Then, we went to the movie, "The Help" which was excellent. The movie was about the African American women in the 1960s who work as maids in the wealthier white families.  The lady of the house was quite snobby and treated the maid like dirt, even though the maid was the one who raised their children and cleaned their homes.  In the movie, one of the maids was fired.  The maid came back with a chocolate pie to apologize.  The lady of the house enjoyed eating the pie until she found out that the maid's shit was also in the pie.  That was hilarious!

Overall, I had a wonderful birthday.      

August 12-14, 2011: Silver Lake with Gonyos, Klees, and Lawvers

One of my favorite memories growing up was going on the annual camping trip with the Gonyos, Klees, and Lawvers. I started going when I was 13 yrs old and have gone ever since.  They are all like an extended family to me.     We hadn't gone to Silver Lake in years, so it was nice to go here this year.    George, Marianne, Kim, Joy, Rayna, Rylee, Owen, Alex, Nathan, Harold, Cheryl, Skip, Jo, Chad, Kristen, Heather, Diego, Julian, Max, Chloe, Soleil, and I came on this trip.   On Friday night, we went to the go karts and then miniature golfing at Craig's cruisers. I didn't do the go kart, but I did do the miniature golf. I think the kids had a good time.    Heather and Diego didn't come until Saturday morning.  Harold and Cheryl had brought Julian along with them.  We all did our own thing on Saturday.  Kim, Joy, George, Marianne and I went shopping in Pentwater which was alot of fun. I got a necklace for Rayna for her birthday. I wasn't sure if she would like it, but when she opened it, she loved it and wore it the rest of the weekend.      It is always fun to sit around the campfire and talk. Chad said the road was tricky in Muskegon where you go from I-96 to US 31 north.   I totally agree with him that it is crazy in that area.    Of course, we did have s'mores.    You can't go camping without doing that.

On Sunday, George, Joy, Rayna, Rylee, and I went on the dune rides which were alot of fun.    I bought Rylee a necklace at the store.      We all had fun on the dune ride and got wet. Rayna got really wet when the jeep went in the water. It was so funny.  

August 6-7, 2011: Jasmine Morse's Visit

 

Jasmine Morse came to our apartment to have a sleep over with her 'Aunt Amy'.    She was so excited about coming over. In fact, Melanie said Jasmine had her bags packed Friday morning.  Jasmine made a card for me and asked if we could have a birthday party for her American Girl doll.       She got to our house in the evening.   We took her to Arby's for dinner and then came back to the apartment and got in our bathing suits and went down to the pool.  There were some wild kids in the water which we didn't like.  In fact, one boy rode his scooter into the water.      Jasmine and I went to Meijer to get her American Girl doll a cheap birthday gift. I think Jasmine wanted everything in the toy department. She kept asking for the price on everything.    Then, we got some mini cupcakes for the party.

Jasmine dressed up the dolls for the birthday party. We set them on chairs around our kitchen table and then put a cupcake in front of each doll and sang "Happy Birthday". It was so cute.

Jasmine wanted to watch a movie before going to sleep.  Maggie slept with us too.    We didn't get to sleep until about 12:30 a.m. which is 4 hours past Jasmine's bed time.    Oh well, it was the weekend and she was visiting.  

On Sunday, we took Jasmine to the Grand Haven beach.   Jasmine and I buried each other in sand.      Then, we walked the beach.    We had a pronto pup for dinner.   Jim said later that Jasmine was exhausted, even though she wouldn't admit it.   I had a good time hanging out with Jasmine.

July 23-24, 2011: Ann Arbor Art Fair and Hell, Michigan

Mom and I decided to go to Ann Arbor for the annual art fair. We hadn't gone there in a few years. Joy wanted to go with us, too.     It was pretty hot and humid outside.  We stopped at Bigby's for a smoothie.  Then, we walked inside the Michigan Theater in downtown Ann Arbor. We took some goofy pictures of ourselves with our phones.

On Sunday, mom and I drove to Hell, Michigan to get ice cream and take some pictures.      It was on our way home and we hadn't gone in a few years. It is an interesting place to stop around Michigan.   The town is very small.   You can even get married in Hell.   That would be quite funny.  I like the ice cream area.  They have a coffin set up with all of the ice cream condiments inside.  They are labeled with funny sayings.  It is always nice to stop at different places.