Back in Michigan

I am back in Grand Rapids! Working at Art of the Table, a local shop focused on selling items used for entertaining guests (specializing in items you won't find in larger chain stores) and busy catching up with old friends and family that are around. Today was a fantastic day off: went to the Meijer gardens with my aunt, cousin, and her baby, had friends over to the lake house for dinner, and then went waterskiing and tubing! Finish it all off with a glass of wine from my work place, and life is happy :)

Pictures, of course:

The lake house:



















Meijer Gardens had their Chihuly exhibit showing:




















But of course it's always beautiful there, even when it does rain:




















aaaaand the wine (great glass!):



























UPDATE: It's now 11:30 pm. The rain just started up again. Currently saying praises for the clear weather that allowed our boat time earlier on this most rainy day!

Friends

This are my friends. I am going to be living near them soon. Woot!

New Digs

Whoops! A whole month went by without a post! It's been a busy one though. I moved into a new apartment, and though I didn't move far, I doubled my commute to work. Now instead of a 2 minute walk, it takes about 4 minutes :) Literally, I moved across the street from my old apartment building. I live in my own place now - no roommates! I've never lived alone, so I thought I'd give it a shot. I'm interested to see how I handle it. So far so good - I'm enjoying my time just for me. Now if only my kitchen sink would work... it doesn't really drain well, and I've been getting the runaround between the landlord and the HOA. It doesn't help that the landlord is currently vacationing in Spain. Just waiting I guess... I got the name of a good plumber from one of my neighbors, so I'm just waiting to hear back from my landlord before calling. It would be nice to do more than one or two dishes without the sink backing up though!

Mom came to Denver to help me move in (i.e. clean!)


She bought me flowers. Isn't she sweet?

Sister lovin'

My sisters are quickly becoming some of the most important people in my life. They are always there for me with listening ears and understanding words. They know where I've been, and they have insight into who I am and where I'm going. They say a sister is a forever friend... well, for me and my sisters, that's so true. So here's a shout out to sisterhood. Love your siblings, cause that's a friend that's always around :)

Today

i love sun :)

A beautiful Denver spring

Yesterday was a beautiful spring day in Denver. Let me brag, just a little:

- I went skiing at A-basin. There was fresh powder. It was cold, but lovely.
- Then I came home and went for a bike ride
- to meet Pastor Sam at the Lime for a margarita and a chat about life.

Three of my favorite things: skiing, biking, and community.
And a fourth: tequila.
What a great city.

Scrabble

I love word games. I really do. My family has always been addicted to scrabble, and now we love Quiddler as well (a word game with cards. If you've never played you should). Well, I was reading through the BBC the other day on my Google reader, and found that Mattel has decided to change the rules of Scrabble to add proper nouns! (check out the article here) I was excited - I'm always finding names and places I want to play, but am not able to! Of course, I e-mailed the article to my family - I can't have them all quibble next time I want to play a proper noun. And they all reject it! They like the old rules; and I always thought I was the traditionalist in the family! Come on guys... this is a good change!

Oh well - I guess I'll have to suffer through the old rules.

Here's a picture of Quiddler. Like I said, if you haven't tried it, you should. It may be telling, though, that my sisters and I rarely are all together, and when we do have a morning together as Renee flies through Denver to a vacation with her college friends, this is what we end up doing :)