Ben and Erica

don't call it a comeback! i've been here for years...

2009-03-06T23:10:00.005-05:00

Yesterday was indeed a blog-worthy day.

It was even a little difficult to sleep Wednesday night knowing how great the next day was going to be. It was a bit like the night before Christmas. Thursday morning, Monica and I headed to Whitmore Lake to visit Joss, Gwen, Lynn and little Emmett! After a little detour due to my extremely poor sense of direction and a quick stop in Brighton to pick up some Panera lunch for the ladies, we spent the afternoon marveling at the wee man, playing with Gwen, and catching up with Joss. Gwen continues to impress me with how smart and funny she is, and what a vivid imagination she has. She had me cracking up. Little Emmett is painfully sweet and adorable, even (in my opinion, anyway) when he's upset. I got to witness a little pee-geyser-while-diaper-changing event. I thought I might die laughing. :)

After a few hours, Monica and I then headed to Portland to have dinner at Britta's with her, the kids, Dillon, and my Mom and Derek. Another lovely get-together with lots of kiddie-time and conversation. I didn't realize how long it'd been since I've seen everyone! I'd been missing everyone something fierce!

Meanwhile, Jocelyn had given me a glorious, life-sized stand-up of Edward Cullen, which I set up behind the pizzas at the Spitzley house. I knew he was there, and I thought everyone else did too, but I guess he was giving everyone's heart a little jump start every time they went to get another slice. (How appropriate, he had the same effect on Bella's heart...) Oops, my nerd is showing.

It's actually quite beneficial having him around. Since Ben's on tour (today he's in Gainesville, FL at the Harvest of Hope Festival), I set Edward up so that he's visible in the living room window so passers-by will think I have a big, strong man with me and won't try to steal anything. :) At the very least, I feel a little less alone! Not much of a personality, though. More the strong, silent type.
...the dogs don't care very much for him either. They bark at him. (Again, how appropriate! Though I'm not sure domesticated dogs were mentioned as an item on the Cullen's menu...)

:)

Game Day '08

2008-10-28T11:45:00.004-04:00

What a great weekend!

Cheap Girls played a show in Ann Arbor Friday night at a club called the Blind Pig, and afterwards Ben and I got dropped off in Whitmore Lake to stay with Joss & Jacob for the night. Saturday morning, as my alarm is going off, I hear the pitter-patter of little feet scooting along the kitchen floor, then the hallway, then up the stairs...and then I see a little blonde head peek around the doorway. So cute! Gwen had come up to say good morning! It definitely started the day off right, with a big smile. :)

Saturday was an all-around great day. In the morning we had coffee and breakfast with Jocelyn and Gwen, visited with Ben and Britta for a bit before we left for the game. Ben and I had a great time at the game, though I was wearing my Michigan sweatshirt most of the time and by the end of the game I had to take it off and freeze for a bit in punishment (I was wearing my State shirt underneath). After the game we stopped by the tailgate and snacked and chatted with the Aunts & Uncles and a few of the cousins. Back at Jocelyn's we hung out with all of the brothers and sisters and played games and danced with Gwen (and each other!). It was a super-blast. Peektures!

p.s....

2008-10-14T23:55:00.004-04:00

Turns out Gwen has a little Broski on the way! Jocelyn and Jacob are simply geeked!

Happy Birthday Gwendolynnnn!

2008-10-12T21:33:00.006-04:00

What a day! It all went by so quickly, but so much fun. I'm still uncomfortably full of food but I just couldn't stop munching, it was so good. Babies, pony rides, barbie jeep, presents...sounds like a party to me. :)

Driving Miss Gwendolyn...

first day of school!

2008-08-25T09:55:00.002-04:00

Waiting to go into my first class. Boy, I sure hope everyone likes me...I hope someone will sit with me at lunch! Agh, the pressure!

Just jokinggg.
But my Mt. Dew isn't really stirrin' the kool-aid this morning. Wish I'd gotten coffee instead...

Playtime with the Gwenster

2008-08-13T14:58:00.003-04:00

Gwen Time @ Papa & Grandma's

Tuesday morning Ben went to the Manager's golf outing - which just happened to be at the Portland County Club, so we drove together so I could spend the day at my Mom's while they did their thing. I got to spend lots of playtime with Gwen! We watched some Spongebob during breakfast, which I loved because I, um, love that show. Afterwards she said "Hey, you wanna play some dice?" Which really all we did was roll them around and talk about which colors the dice were and then she decided which one was 'mine' which was 'hers' and which ones were 'diddins', 'gmas' and 'papas.'

She showed me her 'big girl' bed that was all set up for her in the spare bedroom, and she told me that it was night time and that it was time for me to go to sleep. So she showed me where to lay down, gave me a blankie, and read me a story. Then she turned off the light and shut the door, but when she came back to check on me and I was sitting up she said "No, you're still sleeping! I'm shutting the door for you, and I'll be back when it's morning!" She came back like two minutes later and said "Ok, you can get up now, it's morning time." So cute. And so smart!

All afternoon we played in the sandbox with Dillon, watered plants with Grandma Trina, and helped inspect the work Papa Derek was doing on the barn in the backyard. Winnie was in the backyard pen for a little while, and she was making little barks at random things and everytime she did, Gwen said "Winnie, no!" and she had to say it so many times that finally she tromped over to the kennel, put her hands on her hips and said "I'm not going to tell you again! No, no!" I was cracking up. This is all in three-year old speak, of course, which makes it that much cuter.

It was a super-fun day, but it was a full day of play - by the time I got to work that night I was ready to fall asleep standing up! It was worth it though! :)

Some Stuff about Some Stuff...

2008-08-10T21:50:00.002-04:00

So, I've been feeling some guilt lately about my lack in posting anything super substantial about our lives, but to be honest it's been pretty quiet around here. Nothing terribly exciting has been happening! We both work quite a bit, spend as much time together as possible, try and spend time with our families, hang out with friends, etc. Not that I'm complaining, mind you! We've been quite content. :)

Some happy news, my good friend Dani and her longtime boyfriend Dave got engaged on Sunday. They're ecstatic, and have already started talking wedding plans. They're moving to L.A. in November so Dave can start his internship with a music recording company. Ugh, again, a friend moving across the country (oh, by the way, Katie is moving back to SanDeigo in January with her sister). Do I smell? Anyway, they mentioned a possible Vegas wedding, and I really hope they keep that one going because I'd love an excuse to go back out there. Sigh.

Meanwhile, that's the long and short of it. For now we're just keepin' on keepin' on. :)

A few more photos from Babysitting Day and Dinner Night...

2008-08-06T18:08:00.002-04:00

Spitzley Time

And next week, when Gwen goes to visit Grandma and Papa Rainey for the week, I'll see if she's interested in taking a few fun effect photos, too. :)

The Spitzley Kids...iPhoto Style...

2008-08-05T14:31:00.005-04:00

Barrett and I had a fit of the giggles yesterday playing with all the Photo Booth effects on my computer yesterday. We got a few good ones of the twins on there, too, though they were not so interested in keeping focused on the little black camera. :)

Here's a few more from Dillon and I:

I could play with this program for hours! :)

Picture Time!

2008-07-23T17:39:00.002-04:00

I finally got a new computer, so I can also finally share all the photos I've had on our camera for so many months!

Memorial Weekend '08

Birthday Dinner 4.22.08

I think that our Birthday dinner was also one of the twins' first outings, and I got some fun photos of Barrett in the tub after dinner. :)

Meanwhile, this new computer is for me so I can go back to school. Our other laptop is going on 7 years old and besides how slow and virus-ridden it is, it has really fallen out of date as far as programming goes. After going back and forth for a while, I've decided to go ahead with graphic design like I'd originally planned. Since I ended up dropping all of my classes my first semester after High School, I'm going to have to re-take my basics before I get my degree but it'll all be done. Once I start this time I'm going to finish, I have to finish. I'm so ready for a real career in something that I actually have a desire to do. It'll be a lot of work but I've had a long enough break. I could use some mental stimulation again!

Hola!

2008-06-03T23:30:00.002-04:00

A lot can happen in three months!

We've celebrated our 24th birthdays, which were lots of fun. On Ben's birthday, Cheap Girls played a show and we had just a few drinks at Leo's; then on my Birthday we had a sushi lunch at SanSu with Ben's brother Ian and our friends Katie and Brad. It was very nice and light and happy. In the evening we went to my Mom's and had dinner with her, Derek, Dillon, and Ben and Britta were troopers and brought Barrett and their two-week olds! :) (...It's really been that long since I've posted?! They're almost two months now! Whoa.)

Moving ahead, we had an amazing Memorial Day weekend. We were bummed that Mom and Derek were sick and couldn't come, but it was still very special. We got to spend so much time with the brothers and sisters and kiddies. This was the first cottage weekend Ben and I have been up without my mom being there and not that I was worried, but I still felt very happy to be included in everything. We had happy hour and dinner Saturday night at Bob and Jojo's with everyone, and I may or may not have gotten a little intoxicated afterwards...hmmm. Besides the bruise I'm still sporting on my arm from a lil' spill that luckily only Ben saw, I don't think I embarrassed myself too badly. Still, that night was a blast-a-roo.

---

Yesterday, I had the most lovely girl's day. At noon, Katie, Sarah and I headed to the Ikea store in Caneton. We spent three hours shopping; taking a break in the middle for macaroni and cheese in the cafe. We found so many good deals, and while Katie and Sarah were on more of a decorating mission, I stayed true to my budget. I only got a few things I needed, and my only weak spot was a knit blanket ($30) that I just couldn't part with. What can I say, it spoke to me. I almost bought a real pineapple plant with a wee baby pineapple growing on it, but I ultimately couldn't justify it. Really, who needs a pineapple plant. The girls were a little dissapointed when I told the lady at the checkout that I'd changed my mind. Oh, well. We'll go back eventually.

When we left we drove into Ann Arbor rush hour traffic, but it didn't last too long. It was actually a very nice drive home, but I'm sure Sarah was more uncomfortable. She bought a huge, beautiful painting for their dining room and the only way we could fit it in the car was across the backseat and she had to lay underneath the entire trip home. It was funny though, when she talked it sounded like she was speaking out of a cardboard box and once in a while she'd pop and hand out and ask for a chocolate cookie (we bought a box of incredible Swedish chocolate wafer cookies at checkout). Many inside jokes were born out of that trip.

From Ikea, we went straight to the mall to do a little make-up shopping. We all had some things we needed to stock up on so we worked that into our plans for the day. MAC makeup is pricey, but so worth it. It's my one and only true splurge, and I only buy it because it lasts so long and works so well.

For dinner we went to Outback and were joined by our friends Elysse and Becca, and Katie's mom Julia. We have a few favorite dinner spots and Outback is up there in the top 2. (P.F. Changs and Bravo are contenders.) Anything I eat there makes me smile. :) After dinner, Katie, Sarah and I split off again and met up with our friend Jessie at the movie theater to watch Sex and the City. Those guys are mega-fans, seen every episode yadda yadda... so they were beyond geeked to see it. I've only seen a handful of episodes, but I was still excited. I was not dissapointed at all. We all loved it. After the movie we were going on 12 hours of one of the most fabulous ladies days (second only to my other ladies' Chicago trip) ever. Sarah had been sick with a cold lately so she went to stay with her sweetie after that, but Katie and I weren't ready for the day to be over so we went to Leo's for a drink and watched the Redwings lose (boo!). We were still in girl's day mode so we had a good laugh being snotty to any guy trying to make conversation. Sometimes you just need that! :) After we left the bar, we decided that we still weren't ready to call it a night so we lit some tiki torches on Katie's porch and spent the next few hours sitting outside eating homemade cheese biscuits and drinking Bud Light with Limes, having lots of good, gossipy life and love girl talk. I could not have planned a more perfect day with my best girls.

---

Meanwhile, I have been on my own these past few days. Ben's been gone since Friday on an East Coast tour with Cheap Girls. I'm so proud and happy for him, and I love that he's doing what he loves. He checks in all the time and keeps me posted on where they are. While I do miss him so much, I have to admit that it's nice to let the house go to seed a little bit while he's away. :) I really don't let it get too bad. Even I can't stand too much filth, though it makes me realize that I do need a little added motivation around here. Sigh. He really does make me so happy. Only a few more days.

I'm trying to stay busy while he's gone and it's going pretty well. I saw The Strangers with Sarah on Saturday night, obviously there was my lovely Monday, and tonight I had dinner at my Mom's with Britta and the kids, Derek, my Grandpa, my cousin Renae and her two kids, and my little cousins Faith and Alex. It was a full, noisy house but it was a great, happy night. I'm still working quite a bit this week, but I'm hopefully going to hang out with them again on Thursday. Ben will be home late Friday night and then they have a show here in Lansing Saturday night.

I have lots of good pictures from the past couple of months but Ben took our camera on tour. Besides, our computer is still so slow I'm not sure it could handle the photo-uploading at the moment. In the meantime I promise to post more. It should never have taken me this long in the first place. I just have a very low tolerance for slow computers. Grr! :)

aaahhhhhhhhhh.....

2008-03-09T22:07:00.003-04:00

...That is a nice, big sigh of relief.

So far my first week of being back at Finley's and NOT at Aunt Millie's has been wonderful. I forgot how hard serving can be on your feet - but it's still been great! I get to work with all of my friends and I get to sleep in. :) Not to mention that it affords me the oppertunity to be a little more random with my plans, including a quick jaunt up to the casino on Saturday night where I won $200! I put a $5 into my first slot machine, hit the bonus, and the rest is history. Very nice.

I just feel so much better. This job may be more physically strenuous, but I don't have that steady stream of negativity and anger. I mean, even if I get the occasional rotten table, I know they're going to leave and I don't let it bother me. Sometimes you just can't make people happy but as long as I don't have to spend eight hours a day with them, hey, I'll put up with 'em.

p.s. I didn't mention that my new schedule gives Ben and I a lot more time together! It's so, so, so nice. We get to do the little things that we didn't get to do very often - like having breakfast together. Love it! :)

Happy Thoughts for Sawyer...

2008-02-29T22:45:00.002-05:00

My cousin Renae and her family are in a very scary situation right now, their 3-month old baby Sawyer is very sick. He was admitted into the hospital with a 105 degree temperature. He's in the NICU and they can't figure out what's wrong with him. My uncle says he's been seen by every doctor and they all seem to be stumped. It's very serious and scary, but I'm trying to stay positive. Poor Renae hasn't left the hospital in four days and she's exhausted. Even though she has to stay close to feed Sawyer, I know she wouldn't leave him anyway and I don't blame her.

Renae and I aren't as close as we used to be now that we live farther apart, but she's still one of my absolute favorite people and I love her and her family so much. I can't imagine how hard this must be for all of them. I'm a firm believer that babies are fighters and I'm sending Sawyer all my happy thoughts for a full recovery - please do the same! Hopefully they find the family some answers soon.

Happy Happy Joy Joy

2008-02-19T10:51:00.005-05:00

I gave my job my notice. February 29th won't be here soon enough! :)

I'm happy, I'm excited...I'm scared! But it's okay, I know I can do it.

Not having a steady paycheck is going to be nerve-wracking, but like Ben said, "Better put your working shoes on!" Meaning, hello full-time serving again. And you know, when I stopped working at the restaurant I thought 'Boy, what a relief,' but I ended up missing it so. It's a family, it's all of my friends. Finley's is actually a pretty special enviornment. I've been there five years, I'm confident there; I'm good at what I do. A lot of people don't understand how hard servers work. It's a lot more than scribbling down orders, that's for damn sure! In all honesty, I am looking forward to it. You don't realize how nice being busy can feel until you're going cross-eyed with boredom (among other things).

The plan is for me to work full-time through the summer, then start school in the fall. Once school starts I'm going to try for a part-time student job at the State (in addition to the restaurant) because they work well around class schedules.

It's not going to be easy. I'm gonna be bustin' my ass for a while. Regardless, I'm 100% sure that I will be happier. It's worth it.

Special Saturday...

2008-02-03T20:22:00.000-05:00

Saturday morning I got a call from Jocelyn saying that she and Gwen were taking a little day trip to see Britta & Barrett, so of course I went along. :)

Britta's 2.2.08

A great day, such a fun visit!

Silly Girl

2008-02-03T20:21:00.000-05:00

Congratulations, Dillon!

2008-01-31T15:56:00.001-05:00

Quick snaps to my brother Dillon (better known around school as "Bondy") who just made the Freshman representative for Winterfest! Whoo! Whoo! Whoo!

I smell a future Homecoming King...

Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes.

2008-01-29T15:40:00.001-05:00

So, as my title would imply, I've decided that my current situation is not making me as happy as I could/should be. Yes, Ben and I are fine! :)

I need a new job.

I'm not complaining about simple things. I could deal with a boring job, if that was my only issue. What I can't deal with is how toxic the working environment has become. Gossip, secrecy, (unnecessary) competition, and all around negativity. It's recently started to escalate to the point where I'm usually fighting tears at some point during the day out of sheer frustration. Diplomacy rules, so I have to excuse myself so many times a day to keep from a very rude outburst. I've tried talking to supervisors, bosses, even the vice president of the company. Any positive changes (if any) have been short-lived.

I don't mean to sound whiny. I just can't handle these people much longer! Where all these problems stem from is a very long story, but it's gotten much worse since we got a new boss and she added two more people to our department. More than anything, it's my co-worker. She has been with the company for 10 years and feels extremely territorial about her job, which I understand...to a point. I understand that she has seniority, and nobody is challenging that - but if she ever does feel threatened (which is most of the time for any number of reasons), it becomes next to impossible to work with her. In her defense, these two new people have been overstepping quite a bit (only because they don't know any better) and they've only been with us for a few weeks, but there are so many other, better ways she could be dealing with her issues with them. And separate from all of that, even though we do get along most of the time, she can be a very cold, negative, pessimistic, angry person. Working next to someone like that all day every day takes a big toll on my spirit, whether or not it's directed at me.

I leave work sometimes so angry, so disheartened. I try not to let things like that get to me. I try repeating some positive mantra, "You're better than that!" "It's just a job!" yadda yadda yadda, but ultimately I am exhausted in every sense of the word by the time I get home and it affects my home life. Ben is very comforting, very supportive, but it's frustrating for him, too, when he's not always sure what to say that would help.

My explanation here doesn't really come close to how hard it is to work there. I've given it a lot of thought. I've tried to stick it out. But my time there is quickly coming to an end. But I also don't want to move from this job to some other random office job where I'm likely to run into the same problems. I have to go back to school, hate it as I do. If I'm going to get another job, I want it to be something I love (or at least like), and not something I just tolerate. I want to have a passion for what do! So many people tell me, "You know, everyone hates their job." But why should I have to settle for that? Is it such an extraordinary thing to want a job I look forward to going to? I know, it's just a job - but no, it's not! It's a substantial part of a person's life. Life is too short to work at job you hate.

I can't just up and quit. Ben and I have things to consider. I have good health insurance, and adding me to his policy would be a lot more expensive. While going to school, I'd just be serving back at Finley's, which isn't terrible as far as money goes ('cause let's face it - I'm a damn good server) but we would like to get a little farther ahead financially before I stopped getting a steady paycheck. We will work it out, but it's not going to be overnight.

So basically:
I'm mad as hell, and I'm not gonna take it anymore!

p.s. Meanwhile, Ben is up north, at a cabin on a hill, with his band - recording their new record. Suprisingly, I'm not complaining...'cause he's comin' back a rockstar.

Kate! (...has gone back to San Diego. Boooo.)

2008-01-04T22:35:00.001-05:00

Katie's home! Until the 21st!

Her flight came in at 12 a.m. Thursday morning, and Ben and I just couldn't resist being there for her arrival, so we left for Detroit Metro with Sarah at 10:30 Wednesday night. I knew I'd be tired for work the next day, but I just couldn't wait to see her.

It took us forever to find her (we started in the wrong terminal...about 2 miles from where we were supposed to be), so after the whole everything Ben and I got home and to bed around 4:30 a.m. I stocked up on Red Bull and 5-hour Energy (which really works, by the way) for work and I felt suprisingly good all day. Today was a different story though. I was a walking zombie, and when I got home I completely crashed. BUT, it was totally worth it and I'd do it again in a heartbeat.

The point is Katie's home!
Yayy!

New Year's Eve...

2008-01-02T18:07:00.000-05:00

On New Year's Eve, Ben and I both worked at Finleys, then went over to Tom & Chris' to drink & play Wii. View my peektures.

(p.s. we got a new camera! what what!)

reflection

2007-12-30T19:48:00.000-05:00

Happy Anniversary to us!

It's been a good day. We got to sleep in for a while this morning, we made breakfast, went to Tom & Chris's for a few minutes (they got us Redwings tickets!), saw a movie (Walk Hard - so funny), had dinner (at Olive Garden), and now we're home. It wasn't terribly exciting, but we're always greatful when we get to spend a whole day together.

Now that we're back home and settled, I'm starting to really look back on this year for everything that it was. Not specifically just our marriage, but also our lives.

Now I could sit here and say that our first year has been completely blissful and sweet and absolutely dreamy and conflict-free - but I don't think anyone would really believe that. We have been very happy, but it's also been a real learning experience. We've had some tough, relationship-testing times. For how long we've been together, we are still figuring each other out. We had to work through a lot of challenges, and we still haven't gotten it all hammered out. Some differences are a little more steadfast than others (for example: he thinks cooking and/or baking should be a spotless process, I disagree..it causes a bit of tension. hmph).

I'm not going to poo-poo the old saying "love is all you need", but it really, really helps to have patience and the ability to compromise, admit that you're wrong now and then (yes, myself wholly included), know when it's not worth the fight, and forgive. I know there's a ton of classic marriage advice out there, but not all of those people know who we are, nor how we work. I'm not gonna lie, we've gone to bed angry. We've woken up still angry. But after we get over being the stubborn jackasses we can be, we still love each other and I'm never truly afraid of a disagreement. I'm not sure I'm saying anything really groundbreaking, but I'm trying to be honest. Life is life, you can't have romance without reality.

---

I've been thinking a lot about our families this year. We really are surrounded by the most incredible people. Married or not, I've felt like a part of Ben's family for a very long time, and that in itself is special - but sometimes I look around and I can't imagine being welcomed into a better group. I've been through a lot with them, all of them, and they've helped me though plenty of hard times. Nobody's perfect, and I wouldn't want them to be. They're all very real and despite any flaws, they are genuine and I appreciate that.

I don't mean to diminish the importance of Ben's family to me at all, but I have to say that something about my family has made me especially proud this year. I think it's safe to say that it's been a (sometimes challenging) process for all of us, coming together like we have. I personally feel like I've gotten to know everyone much better - even hanging out with my new brothers and sisters without our parents around as glue! :) I also think the process is still ongoing - but I look at it with a lot of hope. Wonderful, really, wonderful people. I'm not a particularly religious person, but the times that I'm sitting among them are the times that I do feel truly blessed.

I want to look back on this year, appreciate it, and now move forward. Our lives are so green and for all we've already been through together, I know we have many more lessons to learn - about both life and each other. I don't presume to know anything yet, as much as I like to think that I know everything. I don't want to take our future for granted, or move too quickly to achieve everything right now. Now is the time to look ahead, so many things to look forward to.

I feel very content about this year. Nothing major, nothing drastic, but not boring either. I don't think it's necessary to be absolutely ecstatic. When I can go to sleep at night and breathe a happy sigh, I think that's all I really need.

Feliz Navidad

2007-12-26T11:07:00.000-05:00

Holy Christmas Whirlwind, Batman!

We've had a great last few days - unfortunatly my camera decided to be awesome and stop working on Sunday. Suh-weet. So I can share my vivid memories with you all and hope it does the trick.

Sunday afternoon was our Arnesen Family Christmas at my aunt Denise and uncle Roger's. I've been to my share of family parties, and I can honestly say that I don't think I've ever seen more food. It was a sight to see. I'm not sure how well my fruit tart went over, but I liked it. I may have OD'd on the lime glaze... Everything really was fantastic though. I missed the party last year because of work, so I was especially glad that I could go this year.

After the Arnesen party, we went back to Mom & Derek's to have our Christmas Eve Eve party. I've only been going for a few years, but I've started looking foreward to that all year. Lots of dominoes, dice, margaritas, and quality people. I didn't really get into the dice games as much this year, only because I was distracted by the little ones running around. I'm addicted to them. :) I let Ben do most of the drinking, but at one point in the evening I took a shot of tequila with Derek and Greg Stratton that tasted like a smokey attic. It was foul and bizarre and I thought I might die. Lesson learned. The good news is my eclair cake was a hit! It was my first go-'round with that recipe and I was relieved that it was a success. Although I'm not sure you can really screw up vanilla pudding too badly. Usually we stay the night over there, but this year Ben and I both had to work at 8 a.m. the next morning, so we left around Midnight.

Work on Monday was Lameasaurus. We were supposed to get out at noon, but we didn't end up leaving until 1:30. I got home and prepared the last of my desserts, got ready, and when Ben got home we headed to his parent's for their Christmas Eve party. We had tacos and candy and wine and watched the Polar Express. I don't know what it is, but I ALWAYS fall asleep at some point on Christmas Eve. There's just a switch in my head, and when it gets flipped I just grab a blankie and find myself a chair and crash. After I woke up, Ben and I exchanged gifts with Ian. We usually don't wait until the next morning. Ian got me the Killer's B-sides record "Sawdust" and the KT Tunstall Christmas CD. We ~~got~~found [long story] Ian a really nice digital camera and I picked him up a Best Buy gift certificate. And I know this sounds bad, but I can't remember what Ian got for Ben. I'm sure it was music of some kind...

On Christmas morning Ben and I exchanged gifts. We'd exchanged a few gifts before Christmas [we always do, we just can't stand it], so we didn't have a ton to open but it was still a lot of fun. All good stuff, especially my new Kandinsky print for the living room. He's my favorite. Oh, and I got a Nintendo Wi-Fi, so I can take my nerd-ometer up to the next level and play Animal Crossing on my Nintendo DS with my co-worker across town. Yeahh.

After we exchanged gifts at home, we went back to Tom & Chris's and had Christmas morning with them. The best part of their gifts are their clever tags. We never get presents to "Erica" from "Tom & Chris". Oh, no. A couple of examples from this year: To: "The girl from Aunt Millie's, From: A guy and his filley." Or, "To: The one we call Daughter, From: Mauter and Fauter." And don't forget, "To: The girl who sells rolls, From: The parents who are A-holes." [Which they're not!] :) We always have a good laugh at those, and the tradition has carried over to us so now Ben and I always try to funny it up. But Ben and I usually write tags in our own little made-up language, so to post them wouldn't be as cool 'cause nobody would get it. hee hee.

After presents we had eggnog french toast bake for breakfast, then went home again to get ready for the Hartig Family Christmas. Everyone in Ben's family makes the most amazing food for parties. Unusual food, but it's always so good. This year's winners were a cauliflower gratin, onion pie, and taco salad. Then of course the famous dishes, Ben's mom's cheese potatoes and Ben's uncle Mike's cheesy veggies [I love me some cheese]. There's never much of a food theme at their parties other than "whatever tastes really good." No complaints from me. My pumpkin cheesecake took forever to set up, but when it finally did it was really good. And my 2nd eclair cake was also a popular one. Hooray for me not screwing anything up! Oh, but I did fall asleep. Again. But in my defense, Ben's aunt & uncle have a ridiculously comfortable reclining couch. It was hard to resist it's powers.

After the Hartig party we went back to Tom & Chris's house to play Tom's new Wii. Chris wanted to make sure Tom got some exercise while he's retired. :) We all made Mii's, and I schooled Ben at bowling. Awesome.

I'm admittedly exhausted now, but it was a very warm-fuzzy few days. Poor Ben went to bed with the beginnings of a cold last night, but he says he's not feeling too bad today so we'll keep our fingers crossed. Only a few more days until our anniversary! Time has flown by so fast - hard to believe it's been a year already!

Christmas Eve Eve Eve

2007-12-23T09:42:00.001-05:00

There's a pretty significant part of our life that I've never really mentioned much in the blogging world. I guess sometimes I get so used to it that I forget that other people may not know a lot about it. Anyway, Ben is is a band with his brother Ian and their friend Adam. They call themselves Cheap Girls.

Ben's been in bands since I've known him and I've become very accustomed to everything that comes with hanging around musicians. They practice in our basement, and though it'd be next to impossible to hold an audible conversation with anyone upstairs while they're playing, I'm so used to the sound that I sometimes take naps. It becomes background noise to me, except when they play the songs that I really like and then I tune in.

Last night they had a Christmas Eve Eve Eve show in Ian's attic. There were a lot of people there that I didn't know, and normally that makes me very shy and stand-offish, so to counteract that tendency I induldged in a few Jameson and diets. I ended up having a rollicking good time - I even joined a new band! I ~~play~~shred the woodblock [see photo below]. Ben plays tambourine, Joey B plays the whipcrack, Marco plays the cowbell, and Ian plays guitar. We only have one song, and I think last night was our first and last show, but it was jolly while it lasted.

I saw some old friends, talked to a few acquaintences from High School (whoa, wierd), and squished and squirmed my way through the crowd. And adding that after all that I still managed to keep my camera safe and sound and on my person - it equals a very succesfull evening.

Cheap Girls in Action

Every band needs security, bro.

Catching up with Marco.

Nevermind my sad face, I was having a blast.

Ben doing his thang. isn't he cute?!

Playing Catch-Up!

2007-12-22T14:57:00.000-05:00

So a lot of time has gone by since my last post, which means all of my pictures have become belated! I'm going to mass-post them - so enjoy!

These are pics from a few months ago when we went down to Ann Arbor to tailgate the OSU - UofM game, and then Britta, (my)Ben, and I took the kids back to Jocelyn's to watch the game on the big screen.

OSU vs. UofM

These are from our Ladies' Chicago trip! Such a fun day in the Windy City. Shopping, lunch at the Cheesecake Factory, and more shopping. I got to go to my beloved MAC store. I was a happy camper. And after such a long day, a sleepy camper. I did, however, wake up to get my Taco Bell on...

Chicago '07!

I can't believe it's almost Christmas. I've been whipping up desserts all morning in preparation for our upcoming parties - four, to be specific. But we're looking forward to every single one of them! Every party is different and every party is big fun. Cheers!

p.s. Our Anniversary is coming up, too! Post on that to come...
p.p.s. We finally got our insurance claim check from the airlines last week. Rock on.

home sweet home

2007-11-05T21:48:00.000-05:00

So I know this is two posts in one sitting, but it's totally different subject matter!

Not many people have made it out to our house yet ('cause not that many people could even fit in our house), but I wanted to share a few photos to give people a view of our humble little abode. It's small, but it's just right for us. Plus a few of the rooms just got a face lift, so I wanted to share that. Space is a little tight to get complete views of each room, so hopefully you can piece together the layout somewhat on your own...

home sweet home

It's a happy little place.

Game Day!

2007-11-05T21:28:00.000-05:00

Go Blue! (and Green and White!)

The big rival game was a long, fun day.

I slept in a bit on Saturday (10 a.m.), so we had kind of a late start to the day. We got up and around and headed out to MSU at 11:30-ish. From start to finish it took us about an hour and a half to drive, find a place to park, and find the tailgating shindig. We ended up parking at the Wharton Center and walking down to the Breslin Center parking lot, but it was a gorgeous day and it was actually very pleasant. My back got a little sore carrying two folding chairs but I am woman hear me roar. I persevered. :) Ben had to cart the heavy cooler, so we were even.

We saw Rex and Monica on the walk and chatted for a minute, then spent the next couple hours with Ben & Britta & Barrett, and Jocelyn & Jacob & Gwen. Lots of beer and munchies, beanbag toss shenanigans, and fun people.

Before the game started we headed back to Ben & Britta's to watch it (sans Ben S. who was in the stands watching his team looooose, boo). Quite a raucous group of football fans made for a very entertaining evening. :) There was only 6 of us adults, but you'd think there was more! Funny Jocelyn was trying to act so nonchalant and aloof about the whole outcome...but who was the one jumping on the couch whoopin' it up when Michigan regained the lead and one the game?? Hmmm. :)

Ben and I were the only Sparties in the room, so we didn't have much of a cheer section going (plus I'm kind-of a closet Wolverine), but it was still fun to watch them "almost" win.

There's always next year. (Right??!?)

big time love.

2007-11-05T15:32:00.000-05:00

Quickly -

I don't know if I've mentioned this lately..but my husband is ridiculously, insanely amazing. And really, really, really *bleepin'* cute.

Frankly, sometimes he just knocks me on my ass with the things he does for me. In a good way.

big. happy. sigh.

Happy Halloween!

2007-10-31T09:29:00.001-04:00

This isn't really a Halloween post but the title seemed appropriate anyway...

Update de Erica & Ben:

♥. WeBen finished painting the kitchen finally. We've had white walls for quite some time and it needed some color. That man of mine, I swear I don't know what our house would look like if he was as lazy as me. Seriously, it'd be a miracle if you could see the floor (which used to be the case when I still lived at my mom's). I mean, he's - I'm just really lucky. Really. Lucky.

♥. Our bedroom is the sweetest shade of blue. And I helped! Ben and I devoted an entire Sunday to the room and we busted it out Trading Spaces style in one day breaking for food and Coke Zero.

♥. We've been celebrating the month of October by watching a scary/monster/spooky movie almost every single night. I love scary movies year-round, but Ben has to be in more of a festive mood so it's been good. But I don't like the Grudge. I watched it by myself once. At night. Bad scary blue Asian boy. :(

♥. There's not much new to report from Casa Graham, but we're happy. Life is good.

Fantastic Voyage

2007-10-06T14:57:00.000-04:00

Buckingham Palace

What a week! It's been go-go-go since we got back and I finally have the energy to blog. I know you've all been waiting with baited breath. :)

Europe was..whoa. In a good way.

My head has become too clouded with a week of normalcy so I can't really go chronologically, but I will highlight! Sorry if my paragraphs are mammoth...

+London was big and busy. We stayed in Earl's Court, which is basically a neighborhood of London. It wasn't too far from anything and there wasn't much you couldn't get to from the Tube. Suprisingly efficient considering how many people there are in the city, even though it did get a little clogged in the afternoon. It was a little jarring the first day but we ended up pretty confident. We each got 7-day "oyster card" for £23 each, which is like $46 but well worth it. It was a pass that gave us unlimited access to the Underground and the buses all day. Awesome.

+Dublin was lovely. We ended up liking it much better than London. It was much calmer and much cleaner. We had a blast in London, but after a while it starts to wear you out. It was just so massive and overwhelming at times. Dublin, while still a big city, was much more manageable. There weren't quite as many sights to see, so we were able to take our time and sort of 'meander' about. We saw pretty much everything on our first full day. We toured the Guinness brewery, and the coolest part about that (besides the free pint) was their 7th floor Gravity Bar. It was the highest point in Dublin and it had panoramic views of the city. The Jameson whiskey distillery tour was great and we had a really entertaining tour guide. At the end Ben got to be part of a whiskey taste-test to prove for once and for all that Jameson, of course, was the finest whiskey in all the land.

+Our London room was a pretty bare-bones accomodation, but it was fine because we were barely there. It was a teeny weeny litte room with a bed, a dresser, and kind-of open wardrobe, and a laughably small bathroom. I'm really not saying it was bad, because it wasn't, just a little shocking at first. They brought us up a little television, which played a lot of American TV actually. We watched Will & Grace while we got ready in the mornings.

+Our Dublin room was suh-weet. We paid more for it, but we got our money's worth. It had it's own little kitchen complete with a washer and dryer (which we didn't use because we didn't have any soap), a flat-screen plasma tv, and a marble bathroom. The bathroom even had a heated towel rack! And the breakfast was fabulous. It had everthing - bagels, muffins, cereal, pastry, meat, fruit, coffee, tea, and about 5 different juices. We felt spoiled compared to our English breakfast which consisted of coffee, toast and one hard-boiled egg. Literally. I know, I sound like I didn't like London, but I really did.

+Okay, I know it sounds funny to make such a big deal out of this, but European toilets ROCK. You could flush a small rodent down one of those things without batting an eyelash. I'd pay big money to see one of those thrones get clogged. It was amazing. (Then we come home to a toilet that's been running for a week 'cause Ben's brother didn't jiggle the handle when he used it while we were gone. Pssshhh.)

+The architecture in both countries was incredible. The pictures don't do it justice (although there are pictures of course). We were in awe most of the time. The city buildings come up around you from all sides and there's always something to look at, never enough eyes in your head to see it all. I particularly liked all the fountains myself, but they always give me a strange craving to go swimming.

+Good food! Our first night in London we ate at the Earl's Court Tavern and we had - what else - fish and chips. It was very nice, and they always come with peas. It sounds funny to say, but a lot of times during the day we'd get Burger King or Subway just because it was quick and familiar, and then at night we'd eat a nice dinner somewhere. Oh, and there was a really popular (for good reason) sandwhich shop in London called "Pret" and sometimes "Pret A Manger". They were literally on just about every corner. It was awesome. We need them in the States. Our first night in Dublin we ate at a place called Foley's. We each had a Guinness, Ben got Irish stew and I had bangers and mash (sausage and mashed potatoes). Heavy, but so good. Ugh, but whatever you do - DON'T go to an American restaurant over there. No, there's nothing wrong with the food, but it's hella expensive. One night in Dublin we were on our way back to the room and we happened to pass a TGI Friday's. We weren't starving but it was getting a little late and we didn't want to go back out once we got to the room because our place wasn't really by much. So, we decide to go in for a little bite. Holy crap. A burger, not even with cheese, just a burger cost €13.95. That's like $17. Whaaaat? We stayed, but we probably shouldn't have. Everything in Dublin was expensive, mind you, but sheesh.

Man, I know I'm probably leaving some things out but I've been typing for over an hour and my brain is turning to mush. Plus, it's cold in our basement and my fingers are starting to freeze solid. Ben and I are back in the swing again and we've had a surge of motivation so we're going to paint the bedroom tomorrow. Yesterday he painted the front and back doors red which looks kick ass.

It really is nice to be home.

p.s. Oh, and the airline lost one of my suitcases. The one with every single piece of toiletry I own in it. Gripes. It's insured for $1,200 though, so I'm getting my money for it. Jerks.

Coming soon...

2007-10-05T15:37:00.000-04:00

Europe post tonight - Promise!

Unbelievable.

2007-09-19T08:34:00.000-04:00

Ben and I are getting sick. Shyeahhh.

I'm going to drink an entire carton of orange juice today.

Healthy for weeks. Now this.

Touché, Universe.

!@#$%^&*!!!!!

2007-09-18T14:46:00.000-04:00

I. Haven't. Packed. Anything.

WTF.

Life & ♥

2007-09-09T21:25:00.000-04:00

me & my bro

Had another great family weekend.

Friday night was lil' Barrett's 1st Birthday bash. The big brother to-be(!) was cute as ever, especially when he poked/ate/smashed his own little cake. Very funny stuff.

Saturday was Jocelyn's 30th B-day par-tay. I was all nervous about the drive, which ended up making me feel silly 'cause it took a whopping 45 minutes and it was a cinch. Lots of good people, good food, cute babies...good stuff. Jocelyn and Jacob can throw a mean shindig! Too bad Michigan couldn't pull through to add to the celebration - boo!

---

August flew by like the wind. Europe is just around the corner! We've been studying up on our destinations - we rented travel DVDs from the LCC Library, which are actually really cool. One is all aerial footage of locations all around England, which is beautiful. We've been reading up on all kinds of things to do, and the closer it gets the more excited we get about the possibilities - including maybe seeing a Broadway show (although I don't think it's considered Broadway..since it's, you know, in London...). Anyway, they're showing Chicago and The Phantom of the Opera to name a couple. Curiously, I hear Kelly Osbourne is actually performing in Chicago and if that's true it could be interesting!

We don't have any major plans for Ireland (other than pub-hopping), but we are definitely touring the Guiness brewery and the Jameson whiskey distillery. Apparently they say if you don't care much for Guiness, it's best to try it in it's homeland because it doesn't travel well. I'll give it a whirl.

I get all giddy just thinking about it. We only have one more full week of work! And so help me I need a break from that place. I'm not going to start griping and kill the mood of this happy entry...but I will say this - after Europe it's HELLO JOB HUNT!

sweet sweetness.

I'm Back!

2007-08-16T20:49:00.000-04:00

Sorry for the delay, folks.

In the past month? Not a heck of a lot, but it's been good.

Sad news, Katie left today and I am missing her already. She and Sarah are driving a cram-packed compact car across the country to Stupid California with it's stupid incredible beaches and stupid exciting things to do. :(

Her going-away party was a blasty-blast. That was a few weeks ago, but it was a smashing (smashed??) good time. Lots of people + a drunk Erica = me flitting about the crowd like some broken, deformed butterfly. Good times.

Monday we had a girl's only dinner where we laughed away the urge to cry, and Tuesday Ben and I had sushi with Katie and a group of her friends. We had an after party at our friends Rob and Jessie's where I played my first Wii! We cleared the living room and Katie and I played rematch after rematch of Wii tennis and bowling and danced to "We Don't Have to Take Our Clothes Off." Then we hugged and cried and hugged and god am I going to miss that girl.

---

Moving on..

This past weekend Ben and I spent time with our parents (in-laws!!) up north. Ben's Grandpa passed away early last year and he asked that his ashes be spread in the water near the Mackinac Bridge. It was an adventure finding the spot, but it was worth the time. We drove all around the tip of the mitten to find a place that felt right to Tom. We ended up finding the perfect place. It just happend that the road we were on ended at a very secluded, empty beach. It was rocky, not sandy, but the view of the bridge was spectacular and it was very serene. There was a huge white boulder that was taller than me sitting right on the edge of the water. I hung back and let them have a moment (which was slightly tainted by a bored police officer..), and that was that.

Afterwards we spent a few hours on Mackinac Island, which I was very excited for because I had never been there. We had lunch and I bought a nice souvenier sweatshirt, we laughed at horse poo and admired how huge the flowers were up there (no doubt helped by said horse poo). We wandered and shopped and had a drink at the Pink Pony bar. We'll definitely have to go back, but it was a very nice introductory trip.

Sunday we lounged at the cabin. It thunderstormed early so we spent the morning inside playing dice and mexican train dominoes. Once it cleared up I swam with Veda and laid in the sun with the moms while Ben and his dad jet-ski'd. My Grandpa was visiting and I really liked seeing him. Bad Granddaughter, I need to visit him more. I'm proud of him though, he's surviving.

Sigh. I effin' love my family.

Grand Haven '07!

2007-07-16T19:33:00.001-04:00

Our 2nd Annual Grand Haven Beach Trip was a blast. We spent the entire day (literally about 7.5 hours) on the beach. Napping, eating, swimming, eating, and napping (and taking fun photos). I actually wore sunblock this year (unlike the tanning oil with SPF 4 like I used last year which was a total disaster). I didn't get burned! I got tanned! Yeah! It was so much fun. The lake was warm and the waves were huge and swimming was a crazy good time. I didn't want to get out of the water. Around 7:30 we packed up and changed, we went to dinner at Panera (just like last year), got ice cream at the Dairy Treat, and walked to the pier to see the sunset. It was perfect.

I'm especially glad I got to spend such a quality day with Katie (the blonde) because she's moving to San Diego in August for grad school and she won't be moving back any time soon, if ever. I'm very happy for her, but I'm very sad for myself that one of my best friends is moving so far away. I'm just very jealous of the state of California right now 'cause it's about to aquire an amazing person. Anyway, the fun's not over yet, we still have her going-away party coming up. :)
happy/sad sigh.

Family Weekend!

2007-07-10T17:43:00.000-04:00

First of all, if anyone reads the log book at the cabin - this is what Ben meant by me being a banana for most of Sunday afternoon. I even jet-ski'd in that thing!

Moving on, this weekend was a little short, but great. Ben had to close Friday night so we left as soon as he got out around 12:00 a.m. We made it to Lewiston by about 3:30 a.m. and crashed immediately.

Saturday was the Arnesen family reunion at my great-uncle Loren's cottage near Mullet Lake. It was a beautiful day and we put the jet-ski in the water up there but it was SO choppy and windy and I was scared! On the way to the sand bar we got a huge wave in our faces and that was not cool. We tied our boat to my cousin Angie's and hung out with her and her new husband Jay. They brought Loren's boat out after a little while and we spent time on that for a bit (it was huge! It has a cabin on it! But you can't go twosies in the bathroom unless you want to clean it yourself..luckily I didn't need to). Mullet Lake is much bigger than East Twin but the water was still suprisingly warm in the shallows so it was very nice.

After we took the boats in we had dinner back at their cottage and it was pretty much - amazing. My uncles Ted and Roger spent all day slow-cooking a whole bunch of pork and I know it sounds funny to make such a big deal out of it but it was seriously so good. Got lots of time in with the little kids that I don't see that often and they are so much fun. We didn't stay for the bonfire because it was getting a little late and it's about a 1.5 hour drive back to Lewiston.

Sunday was a 'chill' day and we did just that. The morning started out rainy but it cleared up around noon and then it was very nice (and hot!). We hung out and napped in the hammock, swam, boated around the lake (in a banana suit), went in and out of the hot tub, and tried to pretend that we didn't have to leave. All good things must come to an end, though, and we left for Lansing around 8.

Short and sweet, but mostly sweet. :)

Yay, Married Life...

2007-06-28T08:34:00.000-04:00

Wee life update. Not a ton going on, but still good stuff..

+We still like each other! Yeah!

+Friday night was a rare night off for Ben, so we went on a date! Dinner and a movie and everything! Although lesson learned - Carrabbas will never again beat out Olive Garden in a "where should we eat dinner?" debate. It was "okay" but not "omg, it was soooo good."

+Ben got out early Saturday night we went shopping for his and hers baseball bats.

+Sunday morning we went to the batting cages. It was so much fun (and hot! the dome was so humid!) but the Louiville Slugger we'd had for less than 24 hours broke after like 45 minutes! Bummer, stupid wood bat. Luckily we had a metal one, too. My arms (and my buttcheeks??) were sore that night, but it was worth it! [On a side note, you know you're comfortable with your husband if you're okay with him seeing you in one of those ridiculous looking batting helmets.]

+Monday when I didn't really have time to leave for lunch, Ben came to my office anyway just to bring me roses. Big happy sigh. It was the sweetest thing.

+Don't buy the crib just yet, but we've been entertaining the idea of starting to think about approaching the idea of talking about kids.

+Last night, we went to dinner at my mom's and spent lots of time with Barrett, Faith, Alex, and Bransen and my (preggo - yay!) cousin Renae. I've got to say, it made me smile watching Ben and Barrett playing - especially when Ben held Barrett up over him and got a big glob of drool right to the chin! Not that I've ever had any doubts, but his reaction of laughing and saying "ah, that's okay, bud" shows me that he's going to be an amazing Daddy someday. Awww. :)

+Basically, life is good. We do what we can with what we have and we like it.

Need a Laugh?

2007-06-21T08:56:00.000-04:00

Yeah, this is for real.

Historic Victory!!

2007-06-13T08:24:00.000-04:00

quick update:

Mad props to Justin Verlander who last night pitched the first Tiger's no-hitter since 1984! And the first HOME game no-hitter since 1952!

Oh - and we were there!!
We're keeping our tickets! Maybe they'll pay for our kids' college someday.

haha, probably not, but it's still SO SWEET.

A Beachin' Good Time

2007-06-11T21:28:00.000-04:00

What comes before part b? Part-ay!

Rex and Monica's wedding was absolutely stunning! It was a perfect, cloudless day. The groom was handsome, the bride was beautiful, and the family was all smiles. The vows! The emotion! I had perpetual goosebumps. Somebody up there loves them. :)

I took lots of photos, I mingled and schmoozed, and danced the night away with a smile on my face. My raging hangover, by the way, was totally worth it.

The next day we spent a few quality hours at the beach. We walked the shoreline and wandered the pier before heading home. I was nursing my aching head and tummy well into the evening, but that's just a sign that this family can throw a heck of a party. Again - worth it. :)

We had a smashing good time and couldn't be happier for the new Mr. and Mrs. Rainey!

Check It Out..

2007-06-07T10:09:00.000-04:00

Our London reservations are confirmed for the Windsor House. It's BedandBreakfasts.com's London Inn of the Month! Such a pretty place and it's in a great part of the city. Even through email, the people have already been very warm and inviting ("Greetings from sunny London!"). Very exciting.

We're looking into confirming at the Leeson Bridge Guesthouse in Dublin. It looks very cool and it's also in a great location. It's a little pricier, but come on..where else are two classy & sophisticated folks like Ben and I supposed to stay? Just kidding, we just like it. You only live once. :)

This is going to be such a good summer.

Memorial Day!

2007-06-03T17:58:00.000-04:00

A little belated, but I've been sick! Achy, coughy, sore-throaty, etc.. Not coo.
Yes, I'm starting to feel much better, thank you.

Ben and I had a great Memorial Day weekend. We drove up right after work on Friday (my boss let me go early!) and we made it in good time, dogs and all. We had a late-night bonfire with the bros' and sis's and cuz's. I tried Ben Spitzley's hard cider (yummy!) and we told tipsy stories. Even though we were tired, Ben and I were determined not to be the first ones to bed for a change so we stuck it out! 'Til 2 a.m.! Whoo!

The whole weekend was fun and relaxing and what cabin weekend is complete without stuffing yourself silly and forgetting what calories are for a few days. Curses, you delicious asparagus roll-ups and chocolate dipped strawberries! I don't think I ever had to say "I'm hungry." Sigh.

Funny times, too! Rex and Monica's shower ending with a clever mad-lib courtesy of Jocelyn. Rex, you karate-chopping, sword-fighting stud, you. Sunday night at Monique's birthday party I got beat-down in a game of Guess Who? How do you lose that game?? Oh well. That was a fun night anyway because I slowly started to get to know everyone a little better, cousins and such (there are so many!).

On top of all that I got tons of play time with the little ones. Gwen keeps getting bigger and bigger and has the funniest personality. Barrett keeps you busy, but he's so darn entertaining! I loved it!

On a sad note...despite valiant efforts Ben Spitzley could not catch his elusive bass. As they say, there are plenty of fish in the sea..eh? :)

On Second Thought...

2007-05-20T22:43:00.001-04:00

Quick update:

As Ben and I sat down yesterday and went through pages and pages of things to do in Europe, we decided "you know...let's skip Scotland." Of course, we would love to travel there and it would be an awesome trip but we've just found so many things to do and see just in London and Dublin. Rather than limit ourselves and cut out some things that we'd really like to be able to do (rent a car for a day just to say we drove on the wrong side of the road, visit Stonehenge, get pissed in Dublin at least once...) :) It just seemed like it would be better for us to travel less and do more.

And we booked our rooms at two very nice (about $75 a night nice!) bed and breakfasts. We're staying at the Windsor House in London and we're hoping to stay at the Parkway House in Dublin (we haven't gotten official reservations yet).

AND last night Ben bought a London travel dvd, and as much as it's totally like something you'd watch in a high school class and the host wears glasses that are waaaay too big for his face, it has a lot of good info and it's making me very excited.

So that's that!

May Showers Bring June Flowers...

2007-05-17T08:50:00.000-04:00

...at least at my house. I haven't planted a single flower yet this year and I am sad! I've weeded and weeded but not planted. Sigh.

We are starting to get so excited for Europe (duh, understatement of the year). Anyway, Ben has been doing a ton of research. We got a European travel book for Christmas, and just yesterday Ben bought books on London and Dublin (which are the two places we're going to be most of the time). At first we weren't going to book anything in advance and just sort of "wing it", but we've been finding some really awesome Bed & Breakfasts that'd we'd like to stay at, so we're probably just going to get some stuff set up before we go. All the guides say that you're not going to get nearly as much of the culture if you stay in a hotel.

We're starting to get a tentative itinerary going. So far it looks like Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday in London. Tuesday night we get on an overnight train into Edinburgh, Scotland. We're in Scotland all of Wednesday, then take the train back into London that night. Thursday we take a train and then the Ferry to Dublin where we'll be until we leave Saturday morning. We're looking foreward to the trains for the scenery. We're not so anxious to bring back souveniers as we are photos. (But we will be bringing back souveniers, too!) Ben's totally excited about the Guiness brewery and the Jameson Whiskey distillery tours - at the end you get free samples! (yes, a free glass of whiskey...coke, too please?) p.s. I could be totally off on this whole schedule. Ask Ben - he has it almost memorized! :)

This is all getting very real and very, very exciting. This is probably going to be a once in a lifetime (or at least many many years) trip.

Lots of exciting things coming up. Next week we get a long weekend and get to see everyone up north, only a few weeks after that Rex and Monica get married! It's going to be a crazy fun summer.

Happy May Day

2007-05-01T09:21:00.000-04:00

And Happy Birthday, Britta!

Here's the scoop:

First, had such a fun birthday weekend last week. Saturday night we went to Leo's with friends for Ben's birthday. Got delightfully sloshy and celebrated. :) Sunday (Ben's official birthday), we laid low and slept in. We did very little in the morning, just like he wanted. Then in the afternoon we grilled out with more friends and my mom and Derek and Dillon. Very nice way to end the weekend.

For dinner on my birthday we went to P.F. Changs which was fabulous, and we got desert at Coldstone Creamery. I can't think of a better way to celebrate a birthday than to eat my way through it! :) After ice cream we went back to our friend's apartment and played euchre and drank (sigh) really good tequila. I couldn't have had more fun.

This week has been tough. I'm what you'd call a "review widow." Basically, once a year our restaurant gets a very, very, very thorough cleaning leading up to our annual "Restaurant Review". Our head honchos drive down from Grand Rapids, and a manager from another store come though the store (literally) with white gloves on and inspect every detail of dining room and kitchen. We keep the place clean all year, but this is what you'd call our spring cleaning. New paint, thorough dusting, carpets, whatever you can think of. The problem is every manager has to be extremely involved in the process which means a lot of late nights for Ben. Which means a lot of sleepless nights for me. :( I don't see him much the week before review. I saw him for all of about 20 minutes yesterday. Last night he got home at 5:30 a.m. It's only once a year and I know he hates it as much as I do (he's exhausted), but it sucks! I miss him like crazy!

The good news is Review is today, so no more late nights. Also, today is our 9-year anniversary. We both work tonight, but after that we're going to dinner - and then to sleep!

p.s. We got our passports!! Huzzah!

Are We There Yet?

2007-04-18T09:53:00.000-04:00

Europe Europe Europe. So distracted.
We should (hopefully) be getting our passports in the mail soon. It's been about 6 weeks, and they said it might take up to 8, but we're getting anxious because we had to give them our birth certificates!
That will make it feel more real. We're really leaving the country. Really soon. :)

Last Sunday Ben and I went to Game 2 of the Redwings playoffs at the Joe. Ben's mom got us tickets for our birthdays! It was so much fun. Two goals in the first 5 minutes! We had awesome seats in the 18th row. We looked right down at the Calgary goalie during the 1st and 3rd periods so we got to be where the action was most of the game. We've decided that we definitely have to go to more regular season games next year.

This Sunday is Ben's birthday and he's decided to celebrate by doing nothing! We're going to rent movies and lounge and eat pizza and it's going to be great (not to mention nurse the probable hangovers we'll have from celebrating Saturday night!). We're going to dinner at P.F. Changs with friends for my birthday on Monday. Oi, can't wait for banana spring rolls.

Long Lost Blog!

2007-04-05T10:54:00.000-04:00

We are alive and well!!

The truth is finding the time to sit my butt down and go all web crazy isn't easy! (I know, not a good excuse, two sisters with babies find the time!) But I just don't get online as much as I used to.

Anyhoo..quick update!
Being married is just absolutely brilliant. At times it seems nothing has changed, and other times it's like a whole new world. Either way, it's so much fun. We feel married a little more every day. It's nice to say 'husband' and 'wife.' :)
(And I haven't signed the wrong name yet!)

It's been so long since my last post that our reception has come and gone. I danced my toes off, literally. I lost my toenail! I think it was a combination of wearing too-small lime-green slippers and dancing non-stop. Painful! But worth it. It was a struggle getting my husband (yay!) out on the dancefloor, conviced he has no skills. He finally warmed up to it. :) Sadly, the weather was caca. We were actually very happy to have as many people come as they did! Thanks to everyone who braved the roads to party hardy with us! (And thanks to my Aunt Betsy, who became our own personal fire fighter and threw a centerpiece that caught fire out into the snow! She saved the day!)

We leave for Europe in t-minus 5 months. We already know it's going to be incredible. England, Scotland, and Ireland. I hope it comes up as fast as our wedding did. As convinced as we were that it would neeevvverrrr get here.

It's going to be a very exciting year!

p.s. promise not to go this long without a post again! :)

5...4...3...2...1...

2007-01-14T16:23:00.000-05:00

First New Year's Kiss of 2007!

Kisses are much more fun when you're married.

Happy 11-Day Anniversary to Us!

2007-01-10T21:47:00.000-05:00

So we keep asking each other, "Do you feel married yet?"

It's funny because 'yes' and 'no' don't really apply. In a way, it's like we always have felt married, but then there's still that really happy feeling we get when we realize, hey, we really are married! This is it for us, but it's not suffocating..it's wonderful.

We don't feel like "Okay, everything's done now." We feel like "Okay, now we can really get started.."
Everything is fun! I officially changed my name, both with the Social Security office and the Secretary of State. Erica Graham: that's my name don't wear it out.
Actually, go ahead and wear it out..it sounds nice.

It's weird to think that I'm a Mrs now. It's just that we've been talking about it and planning on it for so long, we really didn't expect it to actually happen! We waited and waited for so long, we got used to that part. Now it's here and it's amazing! It's an adjustment, but it's one that I am more than happy to make.

I am so unfreakingbelievably happy.

WE SO TOTALLY DO!

2007-01-06T17:25:00.000-05:00

Delayed post, I know!

But we did it!!! (And we got married! hahahahaha)

We both agree that it was the most amazing time we've ever had. The wedding day could not have gone any smoother. It was perfect from beginning to end. In the morning we went to the New York New York Casino (which was absolutely amazing), and we rode the roller coaster for a little pre-wedding release. :)

The chapel was a tiny little place a little farther down on the strip. It was so cute and everyone was so nice. Everything looked so beautiful. We could not have asked for anything more. Even the weather was gorgeous all day! At night it was just chilly, but still so nice. The photographer was awesome and took the sweetest pictures of everyone. Ben and I could not have been happier!

Ben claims that he's not embarassed by the fact that he cried, but he still asked me to maybe stop pointing it out to EVERYONE who looks at the photos ("and here's where Ben started crying!...") What? I think it's cute! It made me feel so special. My mom said "Erica, I knew he loved you before..but Erica-he LOVES you." Sigh..I love him, too.

I'll post more photos from the trip as they trickle in from friends. It was beyond fun. And this time what happened in Vegas is with us forever! Yeahhhhh boyeeee! :)

p.s. People have already started harping on us about when we having kids! OMG, does that happen to everyone?! haha

uh..holy crap

2006-12-26T18:34:00.000-05:00

OURWEDDINGISINFOUREFFINGDAYS.

sorry, but that can't be right. it was october yesterday.
and may the day before that.

december? what?
christmas is over?

monica, rex - prepare yourselves!!

five months? pfft, more like 5 days.

what am i doing blogging?? i haven't even finished packing!!
ahhhhhh!!!![in a good way]

Three Weeks Away!!!!

2006-12-04T21:07:00.000-05:00

I am a bad blogger! Sorry for such a belated post!

Lots going on! We have two wedding showers under our belt now. The love and generosity gets pretty overwhelming! It's so wonderful that we have two amazing and supportive families. We definately know that we have so much love. Everyone has been so awesome helping us get our life started.

It's coming down to the weeks now! Days even! 26 DAYS! That seems so unreal. I really don't think I'm fully realizing how soon that truly is. Um...iieeeeee!!

Ben and I have been closer than ever lately. Since we see a lot less of each other than we used to, we appreciate every second that we have together. We've learned a lot more about ourselves. We support each other more now than we did before. We take better care of each other. Every little bit of effort helps and it's made such a difference. I'm so thankful for him! I know he's going to be such an amazing husband and I'm going to do everything I can to be a good wife.

Christmas is coming up and to be quite honest, right now I already feel so fulfilled. I don't even need anything. :)

Wonderful Weekend...

2006-10-30T17:34:00.000-05:00

Ben and I took a trip up north this weekend. We wanted to get in a few days of peace before things start getting really crazy with the wedding. Only two more months to go. That's so wierd to me. It seems like yesterday we still had a year to go. It's as though time is flying unbelieveably fast, and still it feels like December will never get here. I know it'll be here in a blink.

We left as soon as Ben got out of work Friday night around 10. (Tom and Chris were extremely awesome and took care of the grand-dogs for the weekend!) The drive was very nice until we started getting into the woods-y part of the highway and then it was quite scary. There were deer everywhere. Once we got off the exit we were only going about 45 most of the way. Quite nervous-making.

It was a very blustery weekend, lots of wind and rain and snow. Still, Ben is a very determined fire-starter and it was very cozy. It was still beautiful, even the (big!) white-caps on the lake. The weather lifed enough Sunday morning for us to take a chilly walk after breakfast. It was so nice just to be with each other without a schedule. It was lazy and relaxing.

Sometimes we can lose sight of the really important things. This was a chance to refocus and remember why we're getting married. There's nothing I could ever want more than to marry that man. I'm very lucky. I'm marrying my best friend. I've never been so sure of anything in my whole life.

I can't help but get squashy and emotional about him.
He's wonderful. :)

If You're Happy and You Know It...

2006-10-22T10:05:00.000-04:00

He Loves Me...

He Loves Me Not...

He Loves Me! :)

He's so cute.

We've been missing each other lately. Now that I work all day long we don't always get to see each other at all during the day. I work until five, and if he has to close he has to be to work at four and doesn't get out until after ten. It stinks! Really, it's probably a good thing because now we appreciate the time we have together, but it stills bums me out. Grrr!

Finally! My lazy ass is a-postin'...

2006-10-12T22:20:00.000-04:00

I know, I knoowwwwww. It's been way too long since my last post. Finally, a nudge from Jocelyn did the trick.

We had the best Saturday ever last week. Gwen's 1st birthday party was a smashing good time.

Gracious hostess Jocelyn and I (and my mom joining in)

Birthday Girl+Cupcake=Photo Op!

Precious Barrett, are you tired?

No, Gwen, you smile at the camera, not poke it...

Ben & I walking in the woods..gorgeous! And the woods were pretty, too! :)

We had so much fun, it was...just really fun. :)
It was a beautiful day with lots of really cool people. Very much a warm-fuzzy-feeling type of day.
Awww.

In Wedding news:

1. We have our invitations printed!
2. We have shower dates!
3. I have yet to try on my dress since I started losing weight..I need to have a fitting very soon. Update on that in a few weeks..
4. We are convinced that time goes slower and slower the closer your wedding date becomes. It. Is. Cruel.

Two and a half months will be here before we know it.

..Right?!?

Errrrr...okaaaayyyy...

2006-09-18T18:39:00.000-04:00

Quick post! Funny story..

This afternoon at work, I was sitting in my co-worker's office trying to learn how to recount inventory. I hear my reception bell ding!ding!dinging! very fast and loud and ferociously, meaning someone desperately needed to get in (we keep the office door locked and screen visitors through a glass window)..

I turn the corner to see, no joke, the physical incarnation of Cruella DeVille. Not clothed the same way, mind you, but other than that, I swear on all that can be sworn upon, she was it. Same insane-woman hair, same make-up, same skin-falling-off-the-face gaunt appearance. I stared for a moment because I couldn't process fast enough what I was seeing.

When she saw me she stopped dinging and began rapping on the glass window saying "I'm on medication! Let me use your bathroom!" I'm still new and I don't know if this is common or not, so I turn to my VP for his thoughts. He is staring at her like "Who in the hell..." and it's clear that he also has no idea what to think. She says again, "I need to use your bathroom!" Now I'm thinking to myself "massively into drugs..." My VP says calmly that she should ask the outlet store downstairs and she immediately responds with "They wouldn't let me! Now let me in to pee or else I'll f---in' go outside on your sidewalk!" Okay, wow. So then he motions to me to go ahead and let her in. I do. She thanks me quickly, tosses her abnormally large bag over her shoulder and bolts down the hallway.

Needless to say, this was no common occurence. Our small office was all of a flutter for the rest of the day about it. Whatever excitement you can find, I suppose.

Still, it was very bizarre and I laughed. Heartily.

p.s. Okay, I lied about the whole "quick post" thing. Oh well.

Good Morning, Aunt Millie's....

2006-09-15T22:06:00.000-04:00

I started my new job today! It was actually very nice. Last night I was so nervous, I kept telling Ben that it felt like starting Kindergarten again. I'm thinking "What if nobody likes me??" "What if I hate it?" "What if I really mess up?!" Nerrrves. It went so well, though. Everyone was really super nice and I actually caught on quickly. My job is really easy. Throughout the week, I have two or three tasks that need to be done by Friday. I'd estimate that my total amount of work in five days equals around 5 or 6 hours. Other than that, I get assigned odd jobs and I have to distribute the mail everyday.

I'm responsible for purchase orders (PO's) and I only do those on Fridays. On Mondays I enter in inventories. Really, I just take numbers that other people give me and enter them into a spreadsheet and print them off. I made one mistake today and my boss said "Really? you only made one mistake? that's it? on your first day? wow, okay." So I'm going to consider that positive.

I have a huge desk/reception area (on which I already have framed pics of Gwen and Barrett) with a nice, big window. Downside: the other side of the window is crawling with spiders but I can deal as long as they stay outside. Anything that gives me some sunshine is okay with me. I have my own computer and a really nice big comfy chair. So nice.

I also answer phones. I say either "Good morning, Aunt Millie's.." or "Good afternoon, Aunt Millie's.." Pretty standard, easy stuff.

I'm loving it so far. I know it's only been one day but I really think I'm going to like it. It's like my mom said today, once you've had a serving job, it's really wierd to adjust to a job where you can just get up and go to the bathroom whenever you want, get something to drink whenever you want. Serving doesn't give you any time for things like that. You have to hold it until you feel like your bladder is going to fall out and you're dying of thirst until it slows down.
So anything compared to serving is a walk in the park.

Bad news: I still have to work all weekend! Arrg!
Worse news: I have to work all next weekend, too!

Okay news: After that, it's only Saturday nights.
Okay-er news: After Christmas, it's goodbye Finley's.

I got a new job!
I got a new job!

Baby's Born! Baby's Born!

2006-09-09T21:48:00.000-04:00

Barrett Benjamin Spitzley is born and is the most beautiful baby boy I've ever seen. I visited today (and brought Britta some much-craved Taco Bell!) and now I'm totally in luuuurrve.

And wow, that really gives convincing evidence to the full-moon theory. I saw his face...now I'm a believer..
haha

Working 8 to 5...

2006-09-08T10:43:00.000-04:00

I'm not trying to get my hopes up too high..but things have been going really well on the job front!! My interview went great. I was distracted (but only slightly) by one of the interviewers because he had a lazy eyelid...and the other guy looked like Mr. McMertury, my middle school band director...

But! it still went really well and they kept making positive-sounding grunts and snorts and smiling a lot.
They said if they wanted to hear more from me they'd call me to set up testing, and they did! They called the next day and I went in just this morning to take a silly written 'personell' test and answer a Human Resources Q&A.

Then when I finished I gave my papers to the man I'd been speaking with and he kept saying things like "you'll be doing this" and "we'd like to have you start late in the week" and things like that, although he didn't actually say I'd been hired because apparently that is HR's decision. However, he did say that both he and his boss both recommended me for the position! I guess it takes HR around five days to do a background check (which I'm so not worried about) and then I'll get a call from them. Hopefully by Wednesday! I could start as early as next Thursday! Ahhh!

I had to laugh, because the last few questions on the Q&A were things like "How many times have you used crack cocaine?" and "If you've never tried cocaine, please list below the other illegal drugs you've used.." So silly. I went into the guy's office laughing about it and he was like "Yeah, you'd be suprised at how many people actually answer that question. Duh!"

Good times.

Tell 'em what he's won Bob...

2006-09-05T09:21:00.000-04:00

..it's a new car!!!

Thursday was an exciting day for us. In the morning we did a lot of tedious paperwork and I drove away in my new car (same as the last one, just black, so I didn't post a picture). We had to wait for Ben's car to arrive from another dealership so Thursday afternoon we drove back to pick his up. I was so geeked. It's the coolest thing everrr.

Everyone's like, "ughh, you guys are brats! Two new cars in one day!" and yeah, that's true, but I didn't have a choice. If I did have a choice, trust me I'd still be driving my last car. I have to admit though, our garage just got so hott! Whee!

And! we are almost to three months! So close that I'm just telling people it's three months because it's more exciting. Only a month until I have my dress fitted! So far I've lost 32 lbs, and I'm pretty confident that they'll be able to take my dress in fine. I don't think I've lost too much weight to require a new dress. I really hope not, anyway..I love that dress. =)

I have a job interview tomorrow at Aunt Millie's Bakery. It's their distribution center and outlet store, but I'd be working upstairs in the office. It's a sales receptionist and the only qualifications was a friendly phone personality, excel experience and a high school diploma. I'm excel certified and I'm pretty sure I'm nice on the phone. I don't want to get my hopes up too high, but it seems promising!
Plus, the whole place smells like bread, which is nice.

Wish me luck!

Britta! Fingers crossed for you today! Eat some spicy food or something! haha

Weekend Fun with the Fam!

2006-08-28T20:58:00.000-04:00

Alex & I

A sweaty, football-game winnin' Dillon!

Yay! Sweet baby Gwen!

I had a weekend that I actually looked forward to this week! I still had to work, but I was able to squeeze in some fun stuff, too.

Friday, my insurance agent called and said that our car was so borderline fixable/totaled that he'd have to let us know Monday. Today the estimate had to go through a two-supervisor review so tomorrow morning we should have some answers! I'm pretty anxious because we've been looking at some pretty sweet replacement vehicles. I'm not trying to be overly optimistic, but I could definately see myself in a new fly ride. =)

Saturday, we got up (kind of) early and headed to Portland. I got to visit with Britta (vent away, Brit! Own it!) and Jacob for a while and get some playtime in with Gwen! We watched Dillon's first football game of the season, which he won! Quite impressively, I must say with a score of 38-7. Whoo! I don't get into sports much, but Dillon's games are a whole different story. Go Raiders! =)

Sunday, we tried to hurry and see Jocelyn and Jacob before they had to leave, but we didn't quite make it (sorry Joss! I really wanted to see you, too! I don't just love you for your baby! haha). It bummed me out, but I have a feeling I'll be seeing Jocelyn very soon...like this week! Fingers crossed. That afternoon we walked around downtown Portland for the last day of Riverfest with the parents, Ben and Britta, Ann Stratton, and the Clarks. We met up with Rex and Monica for a little while and got ice cream with everyone. Yes, still dieting. Yes, I had ice cream. And it was so effing good. =)

I didn't think I'd be very interested in the car show, but I have to admit it was interesting. Plus, my Grandpa brought his classic Chevy down which made me smile because I worry about him sometimes. I don't want to see him just close-up and become a recluse without my Grandma.

All in all, a good weekend. Even work was bearable! Lately I've just become so sick sick sick of serving food, but it was really pretty easy and I made it through. Luckily I love my co-workers (especially all three of my bridesmaids).

Keep on keepin' on, Britta. I'm thinking about you this week!

p.s. the bridesmaids dresses came in today! Huzzah!

Oops...I did it again

2006-08-23T16:45:00.000-04:00

I got into another accident this afternoon. Very similar, actually, to the last one.

First of all, I'm OK. My arm is bruised, but it's nothing. I was on my way to work and I heard something in my backseat moving and I checked my mirror, then when I looked back I saw the cars stopped at the light and slammed on the brakes, but I didn't have enough time. What happened was I had one of my backseats folded down for our trip on Monday and when I put it back up this morning I hadn't latched it properly, so when I was slowing down my cooler slid up and pushed it back down. That was the sound I heard. The airbags deployed and that had me worried because my car filled up with smoke and smelled like something was burning, but I guess that's normal.

Ben just happened to be driving behind me about 1/2 mile down, so when I called him he wasn't far away. It helped a lot because by the time he got there I was a blubbery mess. The man I ran into wasn't angry, but the man I pushed him into was and he yelled at me. It was an older couple and the when the man came down to look at my damage he was like "Goddammit, I'm driving a new car. Haven't even gotten an oil change yet..you're lucky my wife isn't hurt!" I'd been apologizing over and over the whole time, so I didn't really know what else to say. He hardly had any damage anyway! You had to really look to see where anything had happened to it. He may have to have his bumper replaced. The man I ran into just said "Yeah, I saw you coming and I just said 'Okay! Here we go!' and 'Eh, that's why they call 'em accidents.'" He was actually very nice. Especially when I was crying, he came over and gave me a hug. Of course, I called my mom right after and cried. She was reassuring and made sure I was okay and then said "Don't do that again!"

I just feel stupid! I know accidents happen, but I'm angry that I looked away like that. I'm very glad no one was hurt. That really is the most important thing. And the police officer was very nice. She just said "Hey, we've all been in accidents. No one was hurt and that's really all we care about." She wrote me a ticket, but she also said to go ahead and contest it and she'd work something out with me at the informal hearing. I thought it was really nice of her to do that. I'm mostly worried about points on my license, since I don't have any.

The funny thing is we were just at the dealership this morning to test-drive a new vehicle to replace Ben's Blazer. Depending on what the claims adjuster decides, we might get two new cars on Friday instead of one. I guess that's a silver lining, but I still wish it hadn't happened. I'm not really good at estimating damage or anything like that, so I really have no idea what they'll end up doing. Mostly, I just wish they'd total it so I could get into a new car quicker, but if they end up just trying to fix the car it would be okay. I just don't want to wait a few weeks while they fix it and have to share one car with Ben that whole time.

To be honest, it was actually reassuring in a way because now I know that the car really is safe. Looking at it, you'd think it was way worse. All I got was a little bruise on my arm which is very fortunate. So, at least now I know that they really are secure. That's a good thing.

Phew.
Big day.

Grand Haven!

2006-08-22T16:21:00.000-04:00

Sarah, Katie and I took a day trip to Grand Haven on Monday. We wanted to spend some quality bonding time together. It was absolutely amazing. Aside from the scorched flesh I have to show for it, that is. I am officially burnt toast. Oh well. I got it in Lake Michigan! Whoo!

We left around 10:00 a.m. and after a few trips here and there, we headed out on the highway, only to meet head-on with bumper-to-bumper traffic! Curses! It was a shorter delay than we thought it'd be, so it wasn't that bad. We got to Grand Haven around 1:15.

We trudged through very! hot sand to find a comfy spot. We realized that we had an incredible amount of stuff for three people. Beach bags, blankets, towels, not to mention a huge cooler. We became self-concious and started making loud comments like "Gee, I hope our friends haven't ditched us!" and "Wow, I hope this will be enough food for all the people still coming!" Really, it was just us. With an obscene amount of goodies. Needless to say, I enthusiastially hopped off the diet wagon for the day. I made the mistake of tossing a triscuit out onto the sand. Seagulls swarmed like no other! It was actually quite incredible. After that they pooped on our blanket while we were swimming and when we went in to change they poked a hole in our bag of cookies and ate them! Dirty seagulls.

The water was freezing at first, but by the third time we went in, it was comfortable enough to play a little water frisbee. Heck yes!

At around 6:00 we packed up and trudged back. We ate dinner at Panera so we'd have enough time to get back before sunset. We got soft serve and walked the entire length of the pier. It was the best weather we could've asked for. The sky looked amazing and the sunset was perfect. It was really a good bonding session with my two best girls.

I continually put on suncreen throughout the day. Alas, it was only SPF 4. Silly, Erica, your pale white flesh cannot handle it! I am a crispy critter. Ben (while applying massive amounts of Aloe to my back) said "Well, I don't feel sorry for you! Dumb ass!" Ugh, he's right.

Still, it was wonderful.
Ahhhh.

Bridesmaids Dresses!

2006-08-16T09:54:00.000-04:00

Duh! It occured to me this morning that I have the dress! I could take photos of my dress. Momentary loss of brains!

This is the dress front. Simple, but very nice:

This is just a close-up:

This is the dress back. It opens up to a white panel:

This is my favorite part! Close-up of the back's detail:

I love it so!

Ahhhhh...Sigh of Relief

2006-08-14T22:02:00.000-04:00

Lots of exciting stuff lately!

Tonight my girls ordered dresses! We went to Lett's Bridal just to see what they had, but their racks were so chaotic and disorganized that we really couldn't get anything done. We only stayed for a few minutes. After that we went back to David's again and got a lot more accomplished. They all ended up liking the same dress and I was so pleased because it was my favorite one! It's very classy and looked so great on all of them. I was worried that they wouldn't end up getting them because they were $160 and a few other ones had been less, but in a wonderful turn of events, they were on sale for $100! And, they all paid in full.

I was silly and forgot to take a photo. I even remembered my camera this time! If anyone remembers well, it's the same dress I wore to the Winter Ball back in February. Black and white, with buttons down the back. So cute. Of course, it's going to look different on them. =) And me now, too!! I've lost 30 lbs!!

Celebration City!

Leavin' On A Jet Plane..

2006-08-12T16:27:00.000-04:00

We booked our flights!! That is so great to finally say.

We ended up going through Northwest Airlines out of Gerald R. Ford Airport in Grand Rapids. Our flight leaves at 8:35 a.m. on Dec. 28th, then we'll leave Las Vegas at 10:35 p.m. on Jan. 1st. It's just what we wanted. The only slight downside is that they ended up costing $397 per person, but we expected that since it is peak holiday season. It's do-able. =)

I had a bit of frustration, dealing with one of my bridesmaids. Basically, she freaked out when she heard what it was going to end up costing and told another girl she was considering backing out. Admittedly, it is costly, but she's known about the trip for over a year and has had plenty of time to put some money away. Now, four months before we're supposed to leave she has nothing set aside. I was mostly dissapointed, because she really hasn't shown a lot of enthusiasm for this wedding. I would've hoped for a better attitude, but we have worked it out. We went ahead and booked a flight for her and she'll be able to pay us in the next few weeks. I would rather put up the money for her than to have her not go, no matter who's responsibility it was in the first place.

Conflicts: resolved!

Wedding: onward!

Baking! Sort of..

2006-08-10T14:33:00.000-04:00

I baked Amish cinnamon bread today. It's one of those chain recipes where you squeeze the dough inside a bag twice a day for ten days and then reserve four starter bags to give to other people. I used one of the alternative recipes and added blueberries. The good news is that it's delicious. The bad news is I didn't have very good luck removing it from the bundt pan:

The majority of it really did end up okay...mostly.

Ben and I ended up just eating the crumbs out of the pan with forks. I suppose I can deal with not having a top crust.

Tonight I'm going to be the Dough Fairy and deliver the bags to some unsuspecting relatives. They have to start squeezing tomorrow. =)

Look!!

2006-08-04T11:33:00.000-04:00

Yay! A ticker!
Yee-ha!

Oh, and by the way, Allegian Air is NOT cheaper! Even with a package deal, it's more! They couldn't even get us the dates we needed. Aaaarggg. All that waiting and they just farted in our faces and said "enjoy."

Oh well, there are lots of airlines.

Feelin' Hot Hot Hot

2006-08-01T20:19:00.000-04:00

95 degrees, anyone? Luckily, Ben's parents have a pool for us to retreat to when it's really bad. Yesterday on the radio, they were telling senior citizens to go hang out at Meijers! Just to stay cool!

In wedding news, only 4 months and 30 days to go! [So really, it's more like 5 months, but I prefer saying it so it sounds shorter..] Allegiant Air has finally released the dates for December that we've been waiting months for. Ben's mom is waiting to hear back from the woman we've been talking to, right now she's organizing some kind of package deal for all of us taking the trip. That is going to be such a relief when we finally have our flights booked. It's been a point of stress just because the prices of flights on other airlines keep going up and up and we don't want to pay a million bucks to fly. So far, so good. Allegiant is still cheaper. And they fly direct from Lansing which is so much nicer.

On a different note, I made banana bread today. I made it right for the first time ever! I know, baking in this weather? What can I say? I couldn't justify throwing away two bananas. There was still life in them. I even went to the store for eggs just for that. Yay, domestic living!

Accomplishments!

2006-07-24T16:07:00.000-04:00

Yay, we have tuxedos! They look great! Crisis averted.

Also, we bought all of our plates, cups, flatware and tablecovers for the reception. We decided to go for the plastic table covers because they are so much cheaper! Linens alone would've cost well over $200! We got everything we needed for that much! And anyway, the plastic covers are the durable kind. It's all good.

We had plenty of time for that stuff since the party isn't until February, but if we can get it all now, we might as well. I have to say, Ben is the best planner ever. I don't feel worried about forgetting anything, because he's already thought of it and he's probably already has it taken care of. That is a relief, because I forget.
Often.

Tonight I'm taking two out of three bridesmaids dress shopping. My third, Katie, is in South America with her sister until August! I've decided to let each girl pick their own dress as long as it's the right color. I'd much rather have each girl wear the dress she feels most comfortable in so she can have the best possible time. Plus, that way their personalities can come through. I mean, of course, as long as the dress isn't ugly...
Just kidding.

Hey baby, let's go to Vegas!

2006-07-18T23:18:00.000-04:00

Ahh, weddings! I realized yesterday that for all the stress we were trying to escape by hopping a plane to Las Vegas instead of planning a huge wedding here, we've still been working our butts off in preparation! That wasn't the plan! I decided right then that we were going to start relaxing!

I was all bent out of shape because of the tuxedoes. Value City has a tuxedo department and it's cheaper to actually buy them then to rent them for a few days. I, for whatever reason, didn't really like the idea because I was worried that we wouldn't find one to fit little Alex [the ring bearer]. My brother is sort of in-between sizes and I wanted everyone to be perfect. But then I realized how silly it was. It's not going to matter if Alex is in a different outfit. They make little boy tuxedoes. No one is going to care, let alone notice, the difference. You see? You see what a big deal I was making over nothing?! It's Las Vegas for crying out loud! They might as well be wearing Hawaiian shirts!

I told Ben, "All I want is to get married." He said "Yeah, me too." And that was pretty much then end of it. It's going to happen and it's going to be amazing. Anyway, that's our story and we're stickin' with it!