Friday, May 30, 2008

And... I'm spent

So Brian and I finally signed up for the YMCA. We have been planning to join for months now. When you join the Y you can meet with a fitness instructor for free. This seemed like a good idea until he asked what I wanted to get out of working out.
"Um I just want to be in better shape..yeah."
I felt pretty awkward talking about fitness but the guy had really good advice and showed us the proper way to use everything and in what order we should go. Apparently strength training comes before cardio. I can honestly say I have never worked out so much in my life. When we do our strength training it takes a good hour and a half to get everything in. I've never stayed at the gym that long.

Last weekend I went to the Jersey Shore with Anna and Rachel and a bunch of Anna's friends for her birthday. I wasn't sure it would be my deal and it wasn't really. I liked the beach and hanging out but the giant packed club with super expensive drinks, not so much. Anna was hilarious though :)

My own birthday is coming up. I don't have much planned other than a giant birthday margarita at Bombers.

There is a dedication for the new dining hall at Fowler this weekend. I'm really looking forward to seeing camp again. It's too bad we really don't have time to volunteer for a whole week this summer. I know other summers will come, but I'm still sad not to spend more time there. Hopefully we can make a couple weekend visits. Rain is predicted for the dedication day. When I think back to weekends at camp it rained a lot.

Thursday, May 15, 2008

Holy crap look what I found



Who knew red nail polish was the devil?

I've got a crush...

Words cannot describe my feelings when I discovered that Obama would be visiting Grand Rapids.

Urgh. I was not a happy camper, that is for sure.

Like the dork that I am I actually thought about this kind of thing happening when I moved. By living in Grand Rapids, Michigan I have been lucky enough to attend rallies for Al Gore, Kerry and see President Bush. I also saw Bob Dole's running mate. His name escapes me, but I remember he threw a football. I really enjoyed being a part of these big rallies. It's very exciting especially when you are rooting for whoever is there.

On Tuesday I got on the Internet at work as I always do and it took about five minutes to discover that Obama would be having a rally at the arena. I pretty much flipped out. Ugh, how am I missing this? I love Obama! Brian and I discussed him in the summer of 2005, we have been fans for a long time. Soon it seems that everyone I know was posting on facebook that they were attending.

Then on Wednesday to my horror I find out that this will be the event that Edwards endorses Obama at. Sadness.

Oh well.

I don't think they will be coming here...


Taken in GR :(

Monday, May 12, 2008

Wait what?

So this weekend was Tulip Fest in Albany, New York, located in Washington Park just a block or so away from our apartment. For those readers from my native city of Grand Rapids, Michigan it might be compared to our Tulip Time or the Festival of the Arts. But there were some significant differences.

-There was a lot of drinking. This doesn't happen at events put on in Holland, MI period.
-There was a lot of open underage drinking. People were not even using plastic cups, they just carried cases into the park. Seriously Festival would be a whole lot crazier if that could fly in GR.
-There was a pony ride!! Wow this one I really wish could happen in MI.
-There were baby sheep to pet! Ditto from above, who doesn't love petting baby animals.
-I had heard of the band that played on Saturday. While Tulip Time gets some big names, Festival really only gets local bands (which is great). But the crowd in Albany was way way bigger than would fit at the Calder Stage.
-I felt like there should have been more tulips.
-There wasn't really any Dutchness going on. Brunettes definitely outnumbered the blonds. I did not see one wooden shoe. They did burn a floating windmill.

Monday, May 5, 2008

Do do do

We attended our first wedding of the summer last friday. It was a very nice ceremony and a really great reception. Brian got to see a lot of his old swimming friends so that was good. The weird thing that I noticed during the wedding was that god, or the bible, or anything religios was not touched on at all. All the weddings I have ever attended they at least read some Corintians or something.

I cannot wait for the summer to start. Brian will finally have some free time and there are so many things we can do in Albany in the summer. In GR I did always feel limited to my choices for things to do. My friends and I saw a lot of movies.

This weekend I watched The Business of Being Born -



http://www.thebusinessofbeingborn.com/

Synopsis: "The film interlaces intimate birth stories with surprising historical, political and scientific insights and shocking statistics about the current maternity care system. When director Epstein discovers she is pregnant during the making of the film, the journey becomes even more personal.

Should most births be viewed as a natural life process, or should every delivery be treated as a potentially catastrophic medical emergency?"

Anyway this movie kind of blew my mind and even though I will not be having a baby for a long long time, I will definetly keep the points that they made in mind. In America having a mid wife seems like nutty thing, but America also has the second worst infant mortality rates out of the develped countries. I would really recomend this movie.