twentieth reunion

My high school reunion was so much better than high school. After mentally preparing myself for about a month and a half, reading my old journals, forgiving people (and myself) for being messy, emotional, dramatic, confused teenagers, noticing/feeling/seeing so many reminders of high school lately, and making a playlist for the event that included a lot of music I would never have listened to in high school, I was just excited to see everyone.

I'm not on facebook, so I didn't know what people looked like, or what most of them were doing. That was an element some people lamented, but I thought it was great to be happily surprised. The best part? Everyone seemed to be doing exactly what they were meant to do. It was awesome. Our ten year reunion felt crowded and still a bit cliquish. But this time around, it was completely different. We were encouraged to mingle with everyone, and most of us did. I took some photos, but not enough...mostly of people I knew best back then. Good times. Go to reunions. They are worth it.

The only thing that could have made it better is if geography and life in general could have made it possible for more people to be there. I missed Suzanne, and Anjie, and Marlo, and Kelley, and David, and Tiffany, and Heidi, and so many other people who would have made the event even better.

So, pictures (photo quality is not the point here):

By the time the group photo was taken, some people had already left.  And honestly, this is really just a tiny piece of our class...which had something like 280 people in it.



Sarah, me, and Heather...these girls were my closest friends.  I think that for much of high school, I was either hanging out with one or both of them, or talking to one of them on the phone.  You know how some friends share a language that other people wouldn't understand?  That is us.  Friends forever for real.

Trevor and Theresa came from Wisconsin.  They have been together since our senior year.  I think they were my favorite people to see at the ten year reunion and at this one...they are truly awesome people.

Tammy and her husband Jeff came from Cincinnati, though they have lived in many places!  She is the sweetest.




















Ryan came from Florida. I think he is a friend to everyone. I hope life treats him well.

I was most looking forward to seeing Mark and Rachel.  Mark and I went to school together since elementary school, and grew up within sight distance of each others' houses, but didn't really get to know each other until we were on the same RA staff in college.  My RA years were absolutely amazing and transformative, and I loved that this felt like a college reunion in the middle of my high school reunion.  It seems like all of my RA friends are also doing exactly what it seems they should, and that makes me happy.  There was a table of memorabilia -yearbooks, a Color Me Badd tape, a Depeche Mode cd, a crimping iron, a shoebox of notes- and Rachel was cracking me up as an outsider looking through the yearbooks and reading the notes.  They are just fantastic people.

In fact, one of their children created the awards passed out to people for various achievements...their eight year old made this...and it's so much cooler than something printed or purchased.

All of these people deserve incredible lives. I'm glad to know and have known them.

random road trip

I recommend a random road trip, like the one Amy, Jenni, Heather and I embarked on a few weekends ago.  After several weeks of discussing where we wanted to go, we had no clarity about a plan.  Instead, we decided not to make a plan at all.  

  

We met in Southport, headed toward the Interstate, flipped a coin to determine whether we would go north or south, and then guessed numbers in a travel guide to choose our destination.

We had chosen "The Old Bag Factory" in Goshen, Indiana, and hoped for the best.  On the way, we stopped at Ivanhoe's in Upland (above), for some phenomenal ice cream treats and a photo op with Garfield (a native of Grant County).

These colorful marble towers made a soothing sound as the marble cascaded through each petal.  I'd never seen these before and was a bit fascinated.

The Old Bag Factory was a quaint shopping area that didn't disappoint.  There was a beautiful furniture store, a beautiful pottery studio and store, imported treasures and collectibles and an Amish market, among other things.  The building once housed a company that made feed bags and other items, and a little museum inside showed this roll of paper (below) that would become tiny tags for Hershey's kisses.

We chose Das Dutchman Essenhaus for dinner, in nearby Middlebury, and passed several horse-powered buggies on the way.  The Essenhaus is Indiana's largest restaurant, featuring a buffet of comfort food.  None of us are frequent buffet-goers, but it was a delicious meal - the noodles on mashed potatoes were basically perfect.  They have something like twenty-five kinds of pie, and although I couldn't finish the peanut butter chocolate pie I ordered, I recommend it.  

The Essenhaus is located on a charming campus of shops and attractions, like the barn above.  I'd like to return sometime.

We were so close to the Michigan border that we decided to drive into the first town to walk around. Three Rivers' downtown was cute, but everything was closed.  We stopped anyway, walking up and down the street and peeking into storefronts. I noticed that one psychological services office was staffed by a former co-worker of mine...and was jarred by the coincidence.

We drove back to Indiana, and found a nice hotel in Elkhart, where we watched YouTube videos and laughed and slept well.  Breakfast at the nearby Golden Egg Pancake House was overwhelming.  My Eggs Benedict could have easily fed the entire table, but everyone's plates were as heaping as mine.  I ate the highlights of the meal, and then we started our drive back.

As you can tell, the skies were dreary.  We passed the time reading through magazines and chatting. We saw this awesome sign for the tiny town of Mexico, and sent the image to Val, whom we wished had been able to join us.

Our last stop was back in Southport, at a local farmer's market that had just opened for the summer.  It was sparsely populated, and we spent most of the time talking to the people who organized it and volunteered there - including one of my elementary school teachers.

These were places we likely never would have chosen, but the weekend was relaxed, and it was so great to make new memories with my friends.  Spontaneity is good.

a project with a toddler, and a party, and hearts

Some photos from recent weekend activities:

I took a day trip to Cincinnati, where three year old Aven and I created an art project together. Photos below show the process.

 

 We started out with watercolors, and painted a mostly orange page, a mostly blue page, and a page of whatever she wanted that was not part of the project, to allow her some creative autonomy.

 

 Aven chose a bird from an assortment of paper punches I had brought with me. I did the punching, this particular punch was too big for her hands.

 

When Aven counted to twelve birds, we started arranging them.

 

I used small adhesive squares and positioned them at somewhat-equal distances apart, a few at a time. Aven adhered each bird to the orange paper.

 

The finished product was simple, colorful, peaceful, and sweet. Aven seemed proud of her accomplishment!

 **************************************

 

 In January, I went to a surprise party for my friend Nikki, who had no idea! It's fun to prepare for a surprise party, and I think she really enjoyed it.

 

 For me, the party was a reunion of co-workers past. I have known some of these ladies for ten to thirteen years! It was great to see them again, even if some of them look a little blurry (I promise, they are not blurry in real life).

 

 I started another unfinished project when I opened up a package of chipboard shapes. I loved painting these Valentine-y embellishments, but I didn't get much farther than this - at least not since that day, maybe I'll start again sometime soon.

 Have a wonderful week!

a happy birthday message

This is Val. This is classic Val, actually, wearing a bridesmaid's dress, boots, a sombrero (foreshadowing of her life-to-be in Mexico?) and one bright orange rubber glove. She's crafty. Today is Val's birthday. Won't you please visit her blog, This is Life, and wish her a happy birthday? Thanks!

spring break

during spring break this year, i went to work twice. on the other days i did fun things like:

sort paints! this wasn't fun for me, but i have a new understanding of how much of a craft stash i have created. it's a bit overwhelming and makes me want to paint a lot.

i took a brief trip to cincinnati to visit the jorgensons. i had a whirlwind day of shopping with jenni and aven. after breakfast at ikea, we went to jungle jim's (always a favorite), met simon for lunch at a delicious middle eastern restaurant, went to some nice local shops, and finished at crate and barrel and the container store.


at ikea, aven immediately claimed this adorable broccoli stalk friend. she carried it all through jungle jim's!

when i returned, jenni and i quickly made this tree decoration for aven's wall from ikea cork placemats and coasters:


the next day, i met jenny, heather n., and shellie at you are the potter and underestimated how long it would take to paint this:

i haven't picked it up yet, and i think that the pastel pre-kiln paint color hides what are certain to be flaws from rushing the process. but it was good to go there again.

almost a week has passed since spring break, and now my thoughts are focused again on work: getting ready to move into a new office, taking some students to bloomington tomorrow to watch their guitar teacher perform, and many other activities that will make the next few weeks seem to pass so quickly.

a crafty day with friends

last month, i spent an afternoon and evening crafting with amy, jenni, heather and val. we have all been friends for at least fifteen years, and rarely, rarely are we all in the same place at the same time.

we planned a few weeks in advance to spend an afternoon together while making christmas garlands.

it was quite a crafty scene-the table was covered in felt, ribbons, adhesives, scissors, glue guns (jenni has a serious glue gun), more felt, and even more felt. although the intention was for each of us to make two items for each garland, it didn't necessarily turn out that way. there were four daughters toddling around, being cute and deserving everyone's attention. there was a visit from amy's sister and her baby twins! there was pizza to be picked up in the rain. not everyone was motivated to be crafty at the same pace, or at all. there was a lot happening and a lot to catch up on!

still, it was a fun activity for a rainy afternoon. it was inexpensive...didn't need to be perfect or require a lot of concentration...leisurely. perfect for all of us! after taking the photo above, we realized we needed to add a few more embellishments.

most of the way through the night i had pain in my ankle so severe that i couldn't even stand at the counter to glue anything. i spent the remainder of the evening with my foot propped up and an ice pack. it really hurt! it turned out that i had tendinitis, and i'm better now.

jenni finished her garland first. she and aven are checking it out here:

(i may or may not have finished mine at all. i'll let you decide from the photos. but i certainly enjoyed all of the cutting, gluing, laughter and friends it took to create it.)

i'm already looking forward to the next time.

surprise!

my friends surprised me with a birthday lunch today. there were even unexpected birthday gifts! and adorable children! and yummy mexican food! did i ever mention that i have the greatest friends in the world? (the fact that my birthday was 35 days ago? meaningless. it was a wonderful day today just spending time with them.)

away for a while...

i'll be back next week after a quick trip to florida!

in the meantime, wish my friends aaron and jenny well, with prayers for strength, safety, and patience. they are at the hospital right now, about to have a baby!

take care of yourselves, and have a splendid week!

Jenny's Bracelet

My friend Jenny is going to have her third baby any day now. Her shower was held in January, where I put together a station where guests could choose beads and charms to add to a bracelet.

Each guest would choose a bead or charm, and write a message to Jenny to correspond with it. Those messages would be compiled into a little book.



I thought I would be able to assemble the bracelet and the book while Jenny opened her presents, but that didn't happen. Instead, I finished it this weekend, late for sure, but still before the birth of Number Three.

It was my first experience with memory wire, which I thought would be easy. It took several attempts at securing the end caps with e-6000 - more than I expected. Does anyone have a better way to make this work? I do really like using the memory wire. Some tips: you will need a diagonal cutting tool, and if one of the beads is a bit too long and straight to string onto the curvy wire, it can become a lovely shamrock-shaped end cap.

Along with the bracelet, the messages were assembled and tied together with ribbon:


(Jenny seemed to love the bracelet.)

weekend trip

i took a weekend trip to cincinnati and columbus to visit jenni and simon. everything i bought was edible.

in columbus, i loved the selection of goodies at pistacia vera. their hot chocolate (not pictured) is truly, truly amazing. this was my collection of sweets:













from there, jenni and i went directly to jeni's ice creams, where we happily sampled maybe twelve ice creams each. i chose the pistachio honey ice cream, which was delightful!















then, we went to the sherrie gallery, where we saw
THIS
AMAZING
ARTWORK.
(click on that link, already!!!)


Those are crayons!!!


back in cincinnati, simon made a stellar stir fry, and i took pictures of their cats, who were *usually* not willing models:

















thanks for a fun weekend, jenni and simon!

tiny update

yesterday afternoon and evening were spent crafting, eating, and pretending to be a drummer playing rockband (for three hours!) with amy, heather and jenni. below, one of the souvenir ornaments created by amy for each of us. my friends are simply awesome.