Fun Weekend!

We had a busy, but fun weekend! Friday we went to dinner at Applebee's, one of our favorite spots, so we had some yummy food. Our waitress seemed rather new, since we had a few problems that stressed me out a bit, but it was still nice to go out. Afterward we made it to Juanita K. Hammons performance hall just in time to meet Kat and Lucas for a New Orleans jazz concert by Dr. John and his band. It was very chill, interesting music! When the concert ended, we were lucky enough to walk outside as a fireworks show started in the sky, following the Springfield Cardinals vs. the St. Louis Cardinals pre-season baseball game. They were beautiful and we had a great view!

The next morning we didn't get to sleep in because we picked up Kat and met our friend Dave and his parents (visiting him from Wisconsin) to drive to Arkansas for a leisurely, but stimulating hike along a trail in Lost Valley near the Buffalo River. The weather was a little rainy on the way there, but the temperature and air was very refreshing when we arrived. The sites along the trail were gorgeous- a waterfall!- and at the end of the trail we had fun exploring a small cave with another waterfall in the back of it. Patrick and Dave had been to this site before, but they still seemed to enjoy themselves just as much as the rest of us.

Later that night, Patrick, Kat & I watched some stupid movies while eating some pizza she picked up, and we repaid her today by cooking breakfast burritos for after-church-brunch and going thrift store shopping with her. Sadly, it's back to work and school for us tomorrow, but at least we can look back on the weekend with fondness!

That's me peaking out from the center of a hollowed out tree I'm standing in the middle of!

Patrick and Dave near the base of the waterfall.

Me, in the back of the cave, near the waterfall, examining some rocks in the stream.

Kat, on her way out of the cave.

The date...

We've finally chosen a date...

August 8, 2009!

The ceremony will be in the Cook-Dewitt Center at Grand Valley in Allendale and the reception will be at the Eberhard Center in downtown Grand Rapids. We wanted to do it earlier (like early-mid July) but EC wasn't available until August. We thought about it a little more and thought that August would be better because our lease is up August 1, which means that July would be hectic. This way, we can move out in the beginning of July and camp out in Michigan afterwards.

More details to come soon! See you on 8/8/09!

The Easter whirlwind trip and a Mouse

The last week and a half has been quite busy. I got to go out in the field and finally get some data for my Thesis, worked all week, it rained 5.5 inches in 36 hours, a mouse scared the crap out of Atalie, and we went up to Michigan for Easter weekend.

The rain put a damper on just about everything around here and flooded more than 50 roads and countless houses. Some of the photos are amazing. Water was up 10 feet in some places within Springfield City limits (not on the big rivers). The big river south of the city was super flooded and overtopped the dam, flooding a bunch of (expensive) houses downstream.

As for the mouse- it really was uneventful. It darted across the hallway in front of her and she jumped about a mile. The mouse then retreated to behind the fridge and Atalie sent me after to find it. It was hiding in the baseboard in a crack and was absolutely terrified as I stood over it with a very bright flashlight. We were planning on the "flush and trap" move, which involves a broom a box and two people. Atalie botched the whole thing when she spooked the mouse by bumping a plastic bag near it. We couldn't find it anywhere in the house after that and of course Atalie was not happy. :-) Maintenance was called the next day and when we returned home Sunday night there was a trap set up (no mouse present, however). A maintenance person showed up Monday morning and said he'd come back in the afternoon and fill the holes in the floor through which the mouse likely entered.

We buzzed up to Michigan Wednesday after Atalie got out of work and pulled in at a sleepy 1:45am. We got up the next morning for an appointment at the Eberhard Center, lunch with Cassandra, and then an appointment at Frederik Meijer Gardens in the afternoon. Both places are nice and would make for a nice reception. We capped the night with Brad and Mike and then headed to bed, which we were looking forward to. Friday was an early morning; I met up with a professor at GVSU and Atalie headed over to the Cook-Dewitt Center to see how it would work out for a ceremony site.

Choppy and disconnected (gotta love it)... must go to bed...

St. Patrick's Day

Yesterday we got to be in the St. Patrick's Day Parade that runs through downtown Springfield. Derek has a 1971 VW Bus and is part of the VW Club of Springfield which was invited to be in the parade this year. He invited us to ride along if we wanted to. It was a bit chilly, but lots of fun! The parade was pretty long (about two hours) but we got to see a lot of characters along
Derek, Amanda, Dave, Atalie, and Patrick in front of the bus.
In the bus during the parade.
Looking towards downtown up the parade line (we were near the end).
Irish music at Patton Alley Pub following the parade awards ceremony.
The VW Club actually won Best Decorated Car, but the Club went to a different bar after the parade and wasn't present so Derek got to accept it!
After that, Atalie and I went over to Derek's house to watch a movie and called it an early night. Lot's of fun!

So, this place isn't really too different from Michigan when it comes to dramatic changes in weather, at least. Despite all that snow last week, it was again a sunny, blue-skied, 60 degree day. Patrick and I are hoping to go on a weekend camping trip or a day hike sometime soon to enjoy the weather (hopefully it stays) and to get out of the house and do something active!

Our recreation lately has been mostly to plan wedding stuff at night (we think we're pretty on top of things, aside of still not knowing the time and place, of course- haha), and even our weekends have been pretty tame too. This last Sunday we went to our friend Kat's apartment for a mini dinner party with a couple of other people. It was quite nice (and yummy!) so we are hoping to do those more often in the future.

As for work, I've caught on quite fast- it's not too difficult of work-and I like it alright. I'm still keeping an open eye/ear out for other prospects though. I had two interviews last week in other campus departments for full time jobs, but one of them I don't think I'd like to accept even if I was offered. It sounds like a lot of work, for not much more money, and I'm not sure I'd feel like I fit in with the people I'd be working with. I guess that's how you know when some things aren't worth it.

Anyway, sorry there hasn't been too much exciting news to report over the last month. Hopefully with the start of spring we'll be motivated to seek out some new adventures to go on, and then report on! :)

Is this Michigan or Missouri?!

Today we had a SNOW DAY! The Springfield area got around 5 or 6 inches of snow last night and the whole place shutdown. I know, what a joke! We also witnessed a rare sight this morning as well- TWO snow plows went down our street. The City of Springfield doesn't actually own any plows and had to contract the county to help them out. We were shocked.

This is something like the fifth or sixth day MSU has been closed this semester and if they keep it up the school year might get extended by a week or so. Yuck.

Our snow day was somewhat productive: we shoveled the car out (we might be the only people on the block with a shovel), called GVSU Event Planning to get information on the Cook-Dewitt Center for the ceremony, checked out "save the date" postcard prices and details, and did laundry.