October 27-28, 2017: Stranger Things

This weekend was a fun weekend.  On Friday night, went to Barnes to hang out with the gang.   Then, went to Josh and Olivia’s apartment to watch Season 2 of the show, “Stranger Things”.  

This thrilling Netflix original drama stars Golden Globe-winning actress Winona Ryder as Joyce Byers, who lives in a small Indiana town in 1983 -- inspired by a time when tales of science fiction captivated audiences. When Joyce's 12-year-old son, Will, goes missing, she launches a terrifying investigation into his disappearance with local authorities. As they search for answers, they unravel a series of extraordinary mysteries involving secret government experiments, unnerving supernatural forces, and a very unusual little girl.

The show is set in the 80s which is the era Josh and I grew up in.    The writers did a great job with details of the 80 and have many references to other 80s movies such as “Ghostbusters”, “E.T.”, and “Goonies” in this show.

I am not usually into science fiction shows but this series sparks my interest in many ways.    

On Saturday, went to breakfast at Villa in Whitehall.  Olivia made a delicious meatloaf for dinner and on Sunday, Josh and I went for breakfast at Carmen’s and sat at the counter which reminded me of the days when my dad and I sat at the counter at Jerry’s Roosevelt Roost in Roosevelt Park.  Dad and I would go on Thursdays to meet his guy friends and I would get a bagel with cream cheese and hot chocolate and get a free sucker.      

October 13-16, 2017: Joy’s 40th Birthday

My cousin Joy turned 40 years old on October 16, 2017.   She wanted to do something special for it so Heather, Kim, Wendy, Joy, and I went up to Traverse City for the weekend and went to the wineries,  spent time in the hot tub, and went shopping.   I like the Black Star winery and Ciccone’s.    The singer, Madonna, helped her parents start their own winery near Traverse City.  It was a cloudy and rainy weekend but we did get to see a rainbow.    We all had a good time hanging out together.

September 30, 2017: Pumpkin Run

My friend, Rhonda Collins, is a runner.  She has run in many races.  She got me to participate in the 5K Pumpkin Run in Greenville, Michigan which is north of Grand Rapids.   I didn’t run in it but walked.  I was doing it for the exercise and the finisher medal.    

September 27, 2017: Art Prize in Grand Rapids

The big winner of Art Prize was the Abraham portrait made out of pennies.  It was on display at the Amway Grand Hotel.   I took a day off during the week in order to go to Art Prize.   There are too many crowds there on the weekends.   I wasn’t as impressed with the art work this year as in other years.   Usually, I go twice to see the art displays but this year only made it there one time.  

October 7, 2017: Michigan vs Michigan State Game

I finally made it to the Big House!   It was on my bucket list to not only go to the Michigan Stadium, but also to a Michigan vs Michigan State game.   I was so excited when Sue said she got tickets as they are not easy to get.   Sue gave me a homemade gift certificate for my birthday maybe 20 years ago that said good for a Michigan vs Michigan State game.  She paid the $125 for my ticket.   What a great friend!
Chris Gerling, a classmate from high school, has been to 40 games in Ann Arbor.  He said to park at the Sheraton at Briarwood Mall and take the south shuttle to the game for $3 each.  It was the best way to go as traffic is bad around the stadium.
Two high school classmates met me at the game which was fun.   Christine Deluca Anderson lives in San Jose, CA and her brother, Steve Deluca lives in Atlanta, Georgia.  We were all in marching band together in high school.  They both went to college at the University of Michigan.  They flew to Ann Arbor for the game.  Christine has season passes to the Michigan game and sells the tickets to the games she can’t go to.
There were 112,432 people in the stadium for the big game.   It rained beginning in the third quarter.   Michigan State ended up winning the game 14-10.  

August 21, 2017: Solar Eclipse

Skies darkened from Oregon to South Carolina in the first total solar eclipse visible from coast to coast across the United States in 99 years.

According to Google, a total solar eclipse occurs when the disk of the moon appears to completely cover the disk of the sun in the sky. The fact that total solar eclipses occur at all is a quirk of cosmic geometry. The moon orbits an average of 239,000 miles (385,000 kilometers) from Earth — just the right distance to seem the same size in the sky as the much-larger sun. However, these heavenly bodies line up only about once every 18 months.

Outside the path of totality, skywatchers in the continental U.S. and other nearby areas will see a partial solar eclipse, in which the moon appears to take a bite out of the sun's disk. Two to five solar eclipses occur each year on average, but total solar eclipses happen just once every 18 months or so.  

I had decided to take the week off of work to relax.    I didn't plan to be off on the day of the solar eclipse, but it was fun to take part in it.   

Mom and I went to the Fruitport Library to get our special glasses to be worn for the eclipse.   I saw the moon go in front of the sun.    In Michigan, we could only see a partial eclipse.  It was neat to see it.   

I brought my friend, Matthew Conlin, a pair of the glasses so he could see the eclipse. 

Anyway, it was a neat experience to see this eclipse.   It was quite the hype on the news for weeks.   

August 19, 2017: 3 Family Camping

For 30 years now, I have been going with my aunt, uncle, cousins, Lawvers', and Klees' on the annual camping trip.   It was the best thing that could have happened to me while growing up. They are all like family to me.     When I was 13, I used to think that Jase Lawver was the bomb.    I would think of him day and night and couldn't wait to go on the camping trips and see the boys.     The boys haven't been on the camping trips in years, as they have their own families now.     

Our camping trips have changed over the years.   We used to go to Silver Lake, Traverse City State Park, Mackinac Island, etc.   This year, we met at Wendy and Todd's cottage near Evart, Michigan. 

I really wanted my friends, Olivia and Josh to come to the camping trip this year, but wasn't sure they would come.     Olivia met some of my relatives and friends on the women's wine weekend, but hadn't met the rest of the gang.    Josh decided to come along which made me so happy.     He's not a boyfriend, although, I wish he was.     He went kayaking with Justin (Dawn's son).   Uncle George, Skip, and Harold took quite a long nap so weren't very talkative.      It was just nice to hang out with the gang.

Josh drove us home and we had fun singing to the music.

July 31, 2017: Mom’s 71st Birthday

Mom wanted to go to the Michigan Heritage Park in Whitehall for her birthday.  She is fascinated with history.   It’s a half mile loop with pre-historic exhibits.   Then, we went shopping in Grand Rapids and had a nice dinner at Pietros.

July 11-13, 2017 Niagara Falls with Josh

I was surprised when I looked at my phone at 6:30 am and Josh had written that he was all packed and ready to go to Niagara Falls a day early.   He was like an excited little boy.  It was so cute.  I hadn't been to Niagara Falls since 1985.    I brought with me $160 and Josh had $100 which made me nervous as I am used to having at least $500 to spend and a credit card for emergencies.  I wasn't as prepared for this trip as I normally am.   I should have had AAA travel services route us on the trip as my GPS didn't work in Canada.  I used my phone GPS to get us there.  We stopped in Frankenmueth as Josh hadn't been there before.  We had dinner at Zehnders which cost us $22.95 each.  Josh paid the bill.  

It was exciting for Josh to take the Blue Sky Bridge in Port Huron over the border to Canada.  He was taking a lot of pictures.   We each got a Canadian stamp in our passport.     I drove the whole way there.   We stayed two nights at Jellystone campground which was 3 miles from the Falls.

On Wednesday,  we got up early, had mochas at Starbucks and got to the Falls.    I drove down Lindy Lane Rd which has become quite built up in the past 30 years.     We paid $15 to park at the Skycam Tower lot.    Walked to the Falls and took lots of pictures.   I insisted we take the boat trip to under the Falls which Josh seemed to enjoy.  We got quite wet.    Josh said he was quite impressed with how I got around town without a map and that I was an enjoyable person and not to take that for granted.
We hung out by the pool a bit in the afternoon and took naps.
Had dinner using our Jetboils and got some ice cream.  We went swimming in the pool for about an hour.  

Thursday morning we got up early and packed up and went to Starbucks for mochas.   I drove past Hamilton for a rest stop about 2 hours away and realized I had left my purse with my passport in it back at the Starbucks in Niagara Falls.   I was in tears.  I didn't want to drive back in the heavy rain in that traffic through Hamilton to Niagara Falls.    Josh said he would drive which was a blessing.  We couldn't get much cell phone service in Canada so it was hard to call the Starbucks.  I finally got through and found out they had my purse waiting for me in their back room which was a relief.

You would think with all of my traveling, I would have remembered to get international phone service on my phone.  I didn't and got charged $201 in data charges.  I had turned off my cell phone after the first day.    I called Verizon and they were going to add international calling and retroactively fix the charges so it would be only $85.  

Overall, I think we had a great time on the trip and we compromised on our sleeping arrangements.  He prefers rustic camping and I prefer hotels.   We could have done better planning for this trip.  Next time, I will have more money, a credit card, and watch my purse.

July 10, 2017: Grand Rapids

Josh and I drove to Grand Rapids to take care of some business for him in downtown Grand Rapids.   We also went to Silver Bullet Firearms to look at guns for me.  We found a Glock 43.     It was $650 with a laser.   Never went into a large gun store before.   It still makes me nervous to even shoot a gun.  There is a lot of responsibility involved with owning a gun.

July 8, 2017: Concealed Pistol License Class

I'm on vacation for the next week.    Today,  I did something that was totally out of my comfort zone. I took a concealed pistol license class at Port City Pistol.  It was an all day class from 7:30 am until around 4:00 pm.    The first half of the day was the class instruction and the second half was learning how to shoot a gun for self defense.    I took the class with Josh, Krystle, and Chance.  I learned some important ways to protect myself in my home such as having a safe room to go to where you store your gun in case your home is broken into and your life is on the line.   Your last resort is to shoot the gun but if the bad guy steps into your home, then by law you have a right to protect you and your loved ones.  You should first call the police and leave your phone conversation on for dispatch to record what is going on.

When it got to the section of the class where we operated the 22 revolver,  I was quite nervous.  My group had Krystle, Chance, and I.   I learned how to load a gun and shot my first gun ever.   I was able to hit all 8 bullets on the 8 1/2 x 11 piece of paper which was good.   The test was open book and the group worked on it.  We all passed the class and got certificates.    Josh was quite impressed with me for taking the class and going out of my comfort zone and managing my anxiety through it.    We all did very well in the class.

Also, I am pretty financially broke right now.  We lost the power to our house due to a storm a few nights ago and had to throw out the food in the refrigerator which makes me nervous as I didn't have any money until payday.  I sure do need an emergency fund for instances like this.

Memorial Day Weekend 2017

It was hard to work on Friday knowing I would be off of work for the next 3 days.   I was so excited when I got a text from Josh that he had money and we could hang out.  I figured I would be spending a lot of time with him this weekend which wasn't the case.    We did go to Barnes and I stayed over Friday night and we had a nice breakfast at the restaurant called "The Dive".  

Saturday,  went with my Mom on our annual trip up to Baldwin.   We didn't go last year as Peggy wasn't in town and it would have been depressing for me to go up there with how the town has changed since I was a child.

Got the delicious dinner rolls in Bailey from Hilltop Bakery.  We went to the Newaygo Arts and Crafts fair and then through this nice antique store in town.    Had a nice lunch at Riverstop cafe.   Got to Baldwin and went through the clothing store which used to be Peggy's store.  It wasn't the same as when she had her store.  She used to have such cute things all displayed perfectly.

Visited Peggy and saw her son and daughter and their spouses.   Had a nice visit with Peggy.  Since Kenny has passed away, she has found other things to occupy her time.   She met this friend who used to be a heroin addict but for the past 3 months has been clean.   He is a genius at computer repair and goes to doctors, lawyers, big name celebrity homes, etc fixing their electronics.  He doesn't have a license so she drives him to his customers.  It has given her a new sense of purpose in her life which is wonderful.

It got me thinking about my purpose in life and what I will be doing in my future.  This weekend, I have thought about where I have lived over the years and feel that God has placed me in the perfect places for that stage in my life.  When I lived on Lawnel,  I had all kinds of kids my age to play with outside.   I went to high school and to a Western Michigan University at the right time, as well as lived in Chicago at a time when it was safer.   I lived in the apartments at the right time and met some wonderful people.  We had this condo built at a time when the development wasn't done so we were able to see it's completion and enjoy the festivities.   We have lost some good neighbors who moved which has been sad for us as we had so much fun with them the first few years.
I feel that I had my little sister and my dog, Maggie at the right time of my life.     Now, I have to wonder what is next.  

Sunday, I had a hard time figuring out what to do as I haven't been home on the weekends in several weeks.    I ended up going back to church, then to the Fruitport craft fair to see my friend Tony do caricatures.   Then,  I contacted Kay and Karen and we went on a nice ride around Muskegon and took a walk on the Beechwood Trail.

Monday,  I went to my friend Mirelda's house to get ready for the parade in Lakeside.  I got to ride in a TransAm convertible and pass out candy to the cute kids.   Saw my friends from high schoolJenn Elenbaas, Lisa Hoffman, and Sarah Luna.  They took pictures and posted it on Facebook.     Mirelda's family took me out for lunch at Brann's.    Took a long nap and a 3 mile walk where I ran into my friend Beth Keur, whom I met years ago at Bridge Bible Chuch.  

So what I envisioned for my weekend on Friday turned out to be completely different than expected, but was very nice.

May 20, 2017: Jackson State Prison Tour

Mom and I decided to go with Countryside Tours on a 1 day bus trip to see the Jackson State Prison, as well as a Greek Orthodox Church.    The tour name was called 'Saints & Sinners.   Our first stop was at the Michigan State Theater in Jackson, where we learned a little about the prison.      The tour guides were quite entertaining.     Then, we went to lunch at Steve's Ranch Restaurant which wasn't too good.    

Our tour guide was listening to NPR radio in Miami 8 years ago and heard that the state prison in Jackson, Michigan was going to be converted into apartments.   She jumped at the chance and within 2 weeks, she had come to Jackson, picked out her apartment, and sold her place in Miami.     She was quite fascinated with prisons.       We got to see the inside of her apartment which used to be a cell in the prison.

We stopped at a Greek Orthodox church and learned about icon paintings and had some delicious baklava.

February 4, 2017: Karaoke at Pigeon Hill Brewery

My friend, Mirelda Tokarczyk and I went to Pigeon Hill Brewery for pizza and beer.     Pigeon Hill has been in Muskegon for three years and I still hadn't gone there.     It was packed full of people.  Mirelda wanted to do karaoke so we picked out a song and did karaoke in front of the crowd.    I have never done karaoke before. We got an applause.   I think I should not quit my day job.