Car Envy and Valentine's Day

It's been a fun couples weeks.

Two weekends ago was Cam's Amway holiday party (they like to do it later in the season when it's not so busy). That was a lot of fun; they rented out the whole Van Andel Public Museum downtown GR. There was a bunch of food and beverage stations set up throughout the building. We got to ride the carousel for free, got a professional picture taken, and watched a lazer light show.

My mom was gone visiting my grandparents in Florida so I called home to see what the boys were up to this weekend. We ended up going to the International Auto Show at DeVos place with them on Saturday. I've had my heart set on a Mazda 3 hatchback for a while. But I've officially been won over to a Mini Cooper extended Clubman in either red or metallic chocolate brown, ahhhh....



That Sunday we went to the Hurds to watch the Superbowl. I brought some delicious nachos that were heartily scarfed down.

Last week at work was exciting as I applied for and interviewed for a permanent content editor position with Booking. I'll find out by the end of the week if I got it or not - I'm so nervous! I would really love this job. I'm a temp now and I like what I do, but it's not very challenging and extremely repetitive. And the vacation and benefits would be a huge plus too.

This past weekend we laid low for the most part. I wasn't really feeling into going out to crazy busy restaurants for Valentine's Day. Friday night we went to my parents' house to watch the opening ceremonies of the Olympics. We left when the guy reading poetry came on - seriously? poetry at the Olympics ceremonies?

Saturday night we celebrated Valentine's Day at home. Cam had to work all day, but he was able to come home and make a delicious Fucilli with Zuccini and Lemon. I made lava cakes with white chocolate and raspberry sauces. Combined with some Asti Tosti and the movie Love Happens, it was a very nice, relaxing weekend. I found it much more enjoyable than going out to a crazy busy restaurant. And I was pleasantly surprised by the meal Cam made.

Happy New Year!

Ah, what a nice weekend.
New Year's Eve I only worked until 2. I then got my hair cut and colored in Holland (the lowlights all faded away already though so I'm kind of bummed. I might have to get them redone this week.)

That night we went downtown with Cam's brother Duncan and his wife Kristina. First Cam and I stopped by Amway Grand to get a couple drinks and spend some of my "Amway money". It was fun to see all my old friends and co-workers and fun to sit in the lobby bar on the other side of things and people watch all the dressed up people heading out to their parties for the night. After that we met up at the BOB for their progressive dinner. We started at Bobarino's and also stopped at the Monkey Bar. After thoroughly stuffing ourselves we went up to the Top of the Bob where a live band was performing. We hung out there for most of the remaining evening. Got Cam out on the dance floor for a few songs and Duncan for one. Cam and I went up one more floor to Eve to check that out for a little bit.

After ringing in the New Year and saying goodbye to Duncan and Kristina (who had to plow later) we stopped by Rosa Parks Circle for a while. They were still playing music and everyone was dancing and having a great time. And then began the long, cold walk back to the car. It was a very fun night.

The next day we went to the Hurds for their Christmas get-together with the cousins. There were several of us there who were rather tired and sluggish looking. But always fun to see everyone and of course play games. Cam's cousins are very competitive people (they were still joking about how I got a little, shall we say "frustrated", at all the cheating going on at Thanksgiving when we were playing girls against guys fast Uno). The guys always cheat, and that was again the case Friday during Spoons, which I somehow got roped into playing partway through.

Saturday Cam and I cleaned, put away the Christmas decorations, and did some returns. We again attempted an exchange at Best Buy, but still they are out of the Guitar Hero package, as well as any other location and online. So we won't be getting our Guitar Hero for a while :(

Today Cam and I went to the Public Museum downtown. Amway Global employees got in for free until today, so we decided to check out their special exhibits going on. Grossly underestimated how many families and children would be there today, but it was still fun.

It's back to the grind tomorrow. It's a different thing for me to actually have a consistent schedule. All weekend I kept thinking that the next day was Monday and of all the things I had to do before then. So hope everyone else has a great start to the year!

The Christmas Post

Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas weekend!

Christmas Eve we went to Cam's family for the traditional Belgium waffles evening. Before dinner Cam, his dad, and both brothers brought a playset that Bryon and Mary had bought for the girls over to Duncan's house to set it up. The only casualty? - Cam's jeans ended up with a huge tear in them. He assured me he was not doing anything unnecessary or showing off to cause this (I still have my doubts as to how necessary it was to jump over a wire fence, but that's just me). I seem to recall the last time Cam tore a pair of shorts it was climbing over the wire puppy pen, hmmm. But waffles were delicious as always. Present opening was crazy with 3 little girls - who found it hilarious to chase Cam around to steal and hide his socks (why anyone would want his socks is beyond me, but then again I have a sock aversion).















Later that evening Cam and I opened our presents to each other over a bottle of hard cider that was amazing (from an cider mill and winery in Spring Lake). Cam's new jeans came just in time. And he was completely surprised and impressed by the external hard drive with 1Terbite of storage. Cam got me the new John Mayer cd, some jewelry, and tickets to Broadway GR Cirque Dreams show. Cool seats too in these little side boxes. That's January 30, super excited.

Christmas morning we made it to my parents' house by about 10. The boys were eagerly awaiting our arrival so we could open presents; much longer they said and they would have started without us. We got Wii Fit and Guitar Hero, The Curragh Irish Pub gift card, movie gift card, cool picture frame, and Firehouse Guitar gift card. Caleb and Josh both got cell phones so they were super pleased. And then we ate; boy did we eat - all day in fact! Ham, meatballs, garlic mashed potatoes, and tons of desserts! Played pictionary, apples to apples, and Uno. It was a very fun and satisfying day.

The next morning we slept off all that food. Then we went into Grand Rapids for a late brunch at Wolfgang's in Eastown. Cam had this amazing skillet and I had pancakes with cream cheese and fruit topping. We stopped at the art museum downtown - I had some passes left from Amway that were expiring. We attempted a Best Buy exchange, but that proved fruitless, and then relaxed the rest of the evening and weekend.

Looking forward to New Year's Eve tonight with Duncan and Kristina. Hope you all have a fun and safe night!