Austin favorites: begin list

Hamilton Pool, which has a trail down to a waterfall and also down to the river, will be a favorite of mine for a LONG time. Kay and I may go back before I leave, and if we do, we're taking our bathing suits...










And....we ended the day with dinner outside at Oasis - a fantastic restaurant on Lake Travis; it has 11 decks!

Texas Roommates...

Kay really lucked out on a temporary roommate: Jeremy's a fantastic guy AND a great lindy dancer!

Flying to my sister's defense.

Have I ever mentioned that I LOVE to travel by plane? The airports, the views.....no matter how tiring it is, it's also fascinating!

This morning, flying out of Detroit, I saw the most beautiful sight: as we rose above the clouds, the sun was behind us and created a circle rainbow on the cloud below - with a shadow of the plane! I'm so disappointed that the window was dirty, and that I didn't see it immediately, but am still happy to have a few reminder pictures. As you'll see below, I started in snow in MI, and ended in sunny, windy skies in Austin. :)






Don't know if I could work at the Houston Airport...I'm not sure that my car goes that slow.


When I arrived, I discovered that Kay needed my help. Check out this lip. She got clocked by some guy she danced with last night! (of course, she danced with him several times afterwards to prove that she didn't hold her bloody nose and lip against him).


And........my newest friend: Slinky. She's sleeping with me tonight in place of Gizmo.

False Start.

Well.
Disregard my previous post about being single and homeless.

Yes, of course I'm still single.

Just not homeless. My house sale fell through today.

You may guess that I was not happy to get that phone call. Given the fact that it is Monday, I'm PMSing, and I'm feeling both annoyed at my boss and inadequate at my job, I made the choice to leave the office as quickly as I could after the call.

I changed as fast as I could and went for a run, with the following thoughts tumbling along beside me...

"maybe i should just look for a different job close to midland and forget selling...do i really fit in here anyway...at least my family will stop telling me not to buy a house now...should i check northwood? delta? go back to social work?....it would be really awkward to leave - i love alma, but......maybe i should just watch for jobs when i visit texas next week...maybe kay would move down there with me and we could just live together forever and not need other people (even though we'd annoy each other to death within days)...i give up, i need to go back to work to do this presentation...i'm so tired..."

And so I did what all good, conscientious workers do and headed back to work. I spent 30 minutes preparing for tomorrow, then lugged my pile of resume and cover letter books upstairs to present a workshop on creating effective resumes and cover letters. And watched as my 9 students stared at me, occasionally reacting, but otherwise looking like they were suffering from food coma at 7 p.m....and just sat there when I finished, because I finished in 45 minutes.

What's wrong with finishing early?

Anyway, feeling as I did, I was uncertain of my reception, but felt good when a student stayed after to talk and seemed appreciative....then two other students came in to use the room and one gushed about how helpful our office has been...and finally I walked out into the main library and was welcomed by several students as they told me about upcoming job interviews (one with the LOONS tomorrow!), jobs secured after attending a job fair with me in November, and how they have told all of their friends to come visit me for help.

And I walked away thinking,
"maybe I do fit here. maybe I should stay. and this house thing? it was just a false start."

Quality time.

I made it to Hudsonville while the sun was shining and the kids were playing, so I joined in with my camera:


Watch out!


Kelsey with Gina reminds me of Gizmo with me....he likes to put a paw on me to claim me whenever he's close!


Jordan takes a rest.



Kayla considers stunts for her next trip down the slide.



After coming inside, I checked out Kelsey's newly-painted bedroom. I get to sleep in the cotton candy pink/purple delight tonight.

Loyalty isn't always pretty...

The night in Holland was very orange.

In order to go, Gina gave Brad babysitting instructions, including showing him directions for using the TV remote(S!).


And the rest of the night, it was orange. and blue. and more orange. I swear, the only other people wearing maroon in the audience of 3,573 had worn it by accident...






The coaches, well, they weren't so happy.



And the players.....well, they just weren't tall enough!




Here, Kevin (the traitor) talks with the parent of a former player, one of two on this current Hope team.


We (Alma) got creamed, but at least I supported my alma mater, unlike one brother-in-law in my family....still, he got the tickets free! Gina (in the background) just tried to smile and remain neutral by wearing my favorite colors).


Go Scots.

Single & Homeless.

What a strange, strange day: a day that feels like 3 days, or more. A Lansing job fair that was exhilerating while at the same time exhausting. A brief time at home to unpack, take a phone call and shovel Rosie out of the pile of snow that I left on the edge of the driveway...... and a trip to Mt. Pleasant that was less than we had hoped for our valentine's day plans.

The phone call, though....that was big. My valentine's day present and birthday present all wrapped into one. Because on Valentine's Day (today) I got an offer on my house that I will accept tomorrow. And 5 days after my birthday, I'll close.

Just what I wanted, but it still brings mixed emotions. I love my house, and I love my friends in Midland, and I love living in Midland. I've been half-way gone for 6 months now, but it will be hard to fully leave.

So. Consider this my valentine to Midland and all it entails for me.

At least I can visit.
(and don't YOU forget to visit me!)

Eves: snowy white and otherwise

It was an interesting evening. Snow like I haven't seen in ages. "Shocking" words like "vagina" yelled out exuberantly by an audience both male and female. Different.

Eve Ensler spoke at Alma tonight, she's the author of "The Vagina Monologues." I liked what she had to say about stopping violence against women/girls - and about allowing our men/boys to feel and express, stopping the shaming and hardening.



Eve with her videographer....taping for the huge 10th anniversary celebration of "V Day"



Here are some visions from my cold, blustery walk home...through drifts that were sometimes KNEE HIGH!

Home, sweet home...

Self-Portraits and Cats: the mix

Ah, the fun of Sunday afternoons...when you have nothing that you have to do, just plenty of time to...torment the cat?

An innocent thought turns into a half hour of chasing Gizmo around, trying to get a good portrait of the two of us... ;)





Gizmo, PAY ATTENTION!





OK, let's try holding him...



Success?? (Check out the grip on Gizmo's neck)



The easiest way to get Gizmo in a picture: Lay on him.



Here's hoping you all had a relaxing - and successful - sunday afternoon!

I'm an English-wannabe...

Yep, demolition and dancing all in one day. Fantastic!

Brad and Jill's new house is BEAUTIFUL (well, OK, it's got "tons of potential", but maybe you can't call it beautiful right now with walls knocked out and dust lingering, but.... ) What fun, tearing walls out! And such a fun group of people, no matter the occasion: New Year's parties, baby showers (!), house demolition.....it's all good!

Before......



...and after - no more division between the kitchen dwellers and the rest of the world!

The purtiest place in the house right now (and warmest!):

A happy - but tired - camper. Although he looks like he was playing around with a bag of flour, he really did work all day. :)

My contribution to the day's work: tearing out bathroom walls and pounding on tile floors with a sledge hammer.



I took Chad home after the dumpsters were filled, and was able to hang out with Chad, Christy and Shawn for a few hours. This was the result:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YqlbX7bGcwo

Good times, good times. You learn something new every day.