Halloween 2011 Costume Recap.

Uncanny, no?

Our God is an awesome God.

without facebook.

without facebook, i have had more time to watch tv (is that a good thing?!) and I have discovered two great shows.

Show #1: Modern Family. Beyond Hilarious. A dysfunctional family that would be a lot of fun to be a part of. Sassy characters and awkward moments galore.

and show #2: The Rachel Zoe Project. This gem was discovered on the Bravo network (man Bravo never lets me down!) and will definitely make you want to quit your day job and become a fashion-ista. Hilarious Rachel-isms. Also sign up for the Zoe Report (http://www.thezoereport.com) as a way to add some fun into your inbox.

when you're a celebrity.

If you happen to have no work between the hours of 11am to 12pm tomorrow morning you should turn on The Price is Right and check out my cousin Jake Kool. He is going to be on the 2nd half of the show.....and they say dreams don't come true!!!!!

Perspective

This is a positive-i'm so thankful-kinda post. You know i have been restless in my job for the past 8 months. That is no secret on this blog, to my husband, to my family and to my close friends. However, beyond my restlessness, I am so so grateful to have a job. I can say this the day after I get turned down from a job I had really wanted. God has a great plan. I have a job where I work 40 hours. I have a job where I have health benefits. And 90 hours paid vacation. Great coworkers. Great patients. I get to meet some really interesting and kind people.

Did anyone see the cover of the Grand Rapids Press this week? It highlighted how bad our economy still is. I am constantly amazed by the level of poverty that so many people down our streets are living in. My friend Jerry spent his whole life as a truck driver and is now retired. How is he spending his retirement? Driving around to grocery stores and collecting all the goods that they are going to throw away. Then he gives out this food 2 afternoons a week to anyone in need. No qualifications required. He says he's been seeing more and more people in the past few months than ever before. Lots of little kids, even.

It really does make me sad. It makes me gain a great deal of perspective on my complaining about a job that doesn't challenge me enough. I am lucky enough to be able to go home and read books and paint and see my friends and travel and basically just live a very full and happy life. I do not worry about my next meal. I am very blessed and it is high time for me to open up my eyes and see how I can begin to give back to others what i have been given.

love S

2 years.

5k.

Last weekend Drew, Ben, Matt, Tiffany and I did the Susan G. Komen 5k! There was a TON of people and TONS of pink. It was a very fun atmosphere and a great cause. Overall super glad I did it. it was a great feeling to complete it (just under 33 minutes---im mostly happy i did it all without walking) but I definitely took this week off from running and instead have been seeing how many donuts i can eat! Cheers, S

Music.

Also, if you haven't heard the new Band Perry song "all your life" then you should check it out. New favorite.

hope it doesnt go to my head?

http://todaysmeet.com/stacisfanclub/transcript

good days are days when the power goes out at your office and your friends freak out because you aren't online and create a fan club for you. Happy Friday, indeed.

not all who wander.

Not all who wander are lost.

that used to be my favorite quote. Lately i am struggling with it. I DO feel a little like I'm lost. And it's not always fun to be lost. I want to be honest on this blog. My friend Alyssa has a blog and one of her posts (about work and looking for purpose) was so honest that it challenged me to be more honest. I think its therapeutic. Or something like that. Since February of this year I have known that i want a new job. Yet here I am. This is not to say that there are not really cool parts of my job. Some days I come home and say, " i was exactly where God wanted me today" but most days i come home and think "what was the point?"I don't want to make this seem worse than it is. Most days are not that bad and some days are even really good.

God has challenged me this past week through the words of some people in my life and specifically through this question:

are my worries bigger than God's promises?

never.

and i am so thankful for that.

Later Gators,

s

Icecream

just because summer is almost over doesn't mean the icecream has to end.

Seasons change.

Where did summer go?

2 days until September! Sometimes life just seems to be going so fast. I had a good summer...It was our first summer living in a house but a lot of times are house just felt like a hotel. We spent almost every weekend in Holland or Gull Lake. Lotsa boats, water, sand, sun, tubing and family time:-) We also went camping at Sleeping Bear Dunes, up north to Crystal and to the Wisconsin dells on weekend adventures. Part of me is looking forward to not being quite so busy in the fall.

Another reason we have been so busy is that our jobs (well mostly Drews!) have been going through some big changes that have led to working a lot of overtime. I can't remember the last time Drew worked only 40 hours in a week. I am hoping things slow down because it's stressful to be feeling so overwhelmed at work. When Drew began his job there were 8 people in his office and now there are over 20. He just found out they are moving to a bigger office and probably hiring another10 people in the next year. Drew has taken on a lot of training responsibilities for the new hires as well as keeping up with is regular work and I'm proud of him for doing such a good job but I also hope he gets a break soon. As for my work, we had 2 receptionists quit recently and that has led to a shortage of coverage for our offices and the need for the current receptionists to work more. Lots of open to close days (645am-6:30pm) which will hopefully change when we get some people hired! (let me know if you know anyone looking)

The good news is that we are leaving for Colorado in 2 days so it will be a great break from work and what not. Nothing like the mountains and some big wide open space to get rid of stress. I'm not sure why we haven't just moved out West yet. I guess maybe the fact that we are so blessed by the best family and friends ever.

Other exciting things coming up:

My first 5k on September 24th (Susan G. Komen race!) with Ben from http://doyahlikesteak.blogspot.com

Shopping trip with my mom to Ikea!

Megan gets her new house!

Summertime.

It is always weird how summer just kinda sneaks up on you after you no longer have the last day of school to mark it. It is most definitely summer right now but it only kinda feels like it. We have had 3 days of incredibly hot weather and the other days have been a mix of cold and kind of nice.

Have been busy lately with lots of various things. Although i am currently making a conscience effort to NOT be busy because I have a tendency to plan a lot of things! During the month of may I went to a tigers game and had a Sylvan roommates reunion. We had a great time despite our game being rained out! It was nice to get back to my old shenanigans with the former roomies. We also had Drew's cousin and his wife visit our house for a weekend and we played baggo, grilled, and went to a whitecaps game:) I also got to have a breakfast at the nicest Panera Bread ever with my friend Steph who was visiting from Colorado. So nice to be able to some QT with her.

In other news, I have also been trying to become a real live runner (meaning someone who can run more than a mile without dying...) Sunday marked a huge accomplishment for my running buddy Chay and I. We were able to run 2 miles in less than 20 minutes. Waahoo, never thought I would see the day! Running is still not "easy" but at least we can go further.

Other than that, life has been pretty good. Just bought the new Miranda Lambert cd. Love her. Also drew just bought the new Zac Brown Band cd and that is just do darn perfect for sitting on the dock. Okay, well this is getting random so i'm going to peace out!
stay cool, S

Wedding Fever.

I absolutely LOVED the Royal wedding.

personal favorites:

-Harry. His mischievious comments and grin.

-Pippa's silky dress.

-The fact that Kate wore her hair down.

-the crazy hats, fascinators, and feathers in people's hair.

-THE CROWDS OF PEOLPE

-the fact that Pippa got in trouble for the glittery balls used to decorate the dance floor.


love love loved it.

Random.

Random thoughts in my head today..

• I am excited to go to Quiznos for dinner tonight. Last week after my 2 long days we went to Panera bread and I had the SMALLEST bagel that I have ever seen them make and I almost fell asleep in the restaurant. Today I am feeling just as tired as last week but I'm hoping that it is not another weird incident like last week.
  
• Is the royal wedding really only 2 days away!? Holy cow. This week I think every single magazine (minus Sports Illustrated) has had a story about William and Kate. I am going to start saving these articles for when I can sell them as memorabilia in 70 years.
• One of my favorite things about living in a house so far is walking around the neighborhood. I try to look inside windows to see how peoples houses look inside. Creepy i know. I also like having a neighborhood to walk around in as opposed to a parking lot at our apartment.
  
• I am thinking about giving up my loyalty to the YMCA and switching to the Kroc center. I am not able to teach swim lessons at the Y with my current job and its just too dang expensive to belong to the Y. We shall see.
  
• I am contemplating another painting project in the house. Will post a picture if i do.
  

peace out friends.

amazing sacrifice.

When I survey the wondrous cross

on which the Prince of Glory died

my richest gain I count but loss

and pour contempt on all my pride

See from his head, his hands, his feet

sorrow and love flow mingled down

did ever such love and sorrow meet

or thorns compose so rich a crown

arghhhhh.

Where are you weekend??????? 1 more hour.

Finally!

Finally Friday! It feels like this week has gone on For-e-ver. Now, only 11 hours separating me from the weekend. Here's to hoping it goes fast!

a quote to chew on:

"Love is the closest thing we have to magic" - Aquamarine

the 8 to 5 life.

Hi Friends,

Just got back from bible study and it was challenging (in the good kind of way) like usual. It is such a great thing for me to be able to talk with these girls going through the same things in life that I am. Lately I have just been very frustrated with my commute to work and the long days can be so hard. In my job at the front desk I have to be very friendly and social all day long and by the end of the day, I come home so tired and usually in a mood to do nothing. Especially not answer a phone;) However, I always do FEEL so much better when I go hang out with friends or talk on the phone to my Grandma or just do SOMETHING that makes me feel happy and like I have a life outside of work. I am truly thankful for my job--it is a good job and i have great coworkers. I have health benefits and job security. All good things, but sometimes I just need to vent.

In other news, I bought the new Jodie Picoult book "Sing Me Home" and am about half-way through it. Full review of the book to come..

caio
S

Ouch.

So here is a little known fact for you: Yoga is hard. Saturday I went to Funky Buddha Yoga Hothouse with Chalene and Ashley and tried a hot yoga class. 2 days later, my ABS are still really SORE. Man. Yoga is not for sissies. I also just did a Jillian Michaels 30 day shred video. I am not sure that I will be getting out of bed tomorrow. I am getting more creative with my workouts now that my Y membership has expired. It has been a couple months since I have taught a class and I'm not sure i want to go back to teaching right now. One full-time job is enough I think.

Annnnnd it is going to be summer soon and hopefully I will be able to get plenty of exercise outside!

In other news, I have been looking for jobs a little closer to home. I am getting sick of driving 25 minutes to work everyday. And of waking up at 530 am on days that I open. I like my job right now alright but it never hurts to look at what is out there either.

What to make for dinner!?!!
Always the dilemma.

Have a great day amigos!

Yoga.

Just Because.

Because he is great, this post goes out Drew-bird.

Top 10 best things about my husband:

1) He understands all the made up words I use and has started using them himself.

2) He is WAY cleaner than me and that is why our house looks clean most of the time.

3) He is adventurous and loves anything involving nature and being outside.

4) He is open to learning new things that I love and usually ends up liking them even more than i do (i.e. tennis, skiing, and gambling)

5) He has great hair. And sometimes he even lets me put some of my hair products in it.

6) One of his favorite movies is Cool Runnings and he quote almost the whole thing.

7) He does not gossip. you could tell him any secret and it is safe. I could learn from this.

8) He is a great writer.

9) He loves FLIP FLOPS and PALM TREES.

10) He loves my family. and ME most of all (even though I am a crazy person and a born worrier)

Sunshine-y Monday

Today felt like SPRING! Bust out the flip flops people!

Also, I got out of work at 1. That is ALWAYS a good thing. (not thinking right now about working 630 to 630 tomorrow) I went to the Y to workout and was watching Ellen and saw the cutest father and daughter on the show! Seriously, they were to die for. For some reason I can't copy the link of them on the show but here is the You tube video:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LxIw4uOsvOs

love love love it.

Simple Math.

There is something that is very very precious to every single person that works full-time in an office. That something is called "the lunchbreak." Lunch breaks are rays of sunshine and possibility in the day. 60 whole minutes to be spent how-e-ver one wants in the middle of the work day.




My current dilemma involving this precious lunch break in an equation in my mind of what is better:

OPTION #1: The YMCA (exactly .2 miles from my office). This option is the "smart and responsible" option because it means I can get my workout in and probably have a burst of energy to get me through the day. The downside is that I have to work out hard enough to feel GOOD about it but not TOO hard that I have to take a full-blown shower. Just need to break a little sweat so i can quick change and get back to the office. It also means no frozen coke run and no time to read magazines and do absolutely nothing. This used to be my default option before option #2 opened. (see below)

OPTION #2:

This is the sign to the brand new super awesome cupcake shop....which by the way has over 24 flavors of cupcakes. I happen to LOVE all 4 kinds that I've tried so far. Sadly, option #2 wins more than it should. But really is that a crime? The brand new-ness of this place will wear of and I will hopefully go back to my happy balance of working out and having a double chocolate s'more cupcake...until then, I will have my cake and eat it too!

Goodnight!

S

Weekend Update...and Prayer Requests.

I really am going to try to be better at updating this blog. So here it goes..

This past weekend was super busy and a lot of exciting things happened and also some really heartbreaking things happened. I guess I will start by posting some pictures of the exciting things.

Friday night we went out to dinner at Johnny Carino's with some friends. Ate way too much pasta and saw a woman with a hair do that stood off her head like 8 inches (she literally had hair with more volume than I'ver seen....and I've seen a LOT of volume..)

After dinner, we came home and played some Bananagrams till it was late enough to go to Montes for Drew's Bosses and Coworkers joint birthday party at Montes. We got to Monte's and everyone really wanted Drew to dance (a repeat of his dancing at the work christmas party..) but I guess he was not feeling as brave/had not had enough beers?) It ended up being fun and Drew is lucky to work with an awesome group of people. I snagged a pic with 2 of those awesome people (Caitlin and Kyla):

Saturday I went down to kalamazoo for some spring break shopping with my mom! We get a springbreak still thanks to Amy who is a teacher and is keeping that tradition alive:) Saturday afternoon/evening was my cousin Susan's wedding! Lots of fun and my personal highlight was my Grandma Kool turning into a full-blown dancing machine. A new side of Grandma! We did manage to snag a picture when she was breaking for some water:)
So it was a weekend of celebration but it was also a weekend of sadness due to the fact that a good friend lost his father in a sudden car accident (he actually was stopped to help someone who was stuck in a ditch when he was killed) and another friend's father had a heart attack. It has been hard to process these events and it is so hard to see friends in pain. Please keep these friends of mine in your prayers. A verse that has kept popping up is Isaiah 40: 31. This verse offers so much hope to me.

Love you all,

Staci

Tuesday Thoughts.

Hellooo Tuesday! Today has been an interesting mix of happy and unfortunate things. I was backing out of my driveway at 613am this morning and proceeded to get stuck in the mound of snow that the plow had left at the bottom :( I tried to get out on my own for about 10 minutes but then decided to wake up Drew because I was not moving AT ALL. Being the super nice guy that he is..he hopped out of bed and helped. We then spent the next 45 MINUTES getting my car unstuck. Yikes. This is the worst part of winter. Normally I'm a huge winter advocate but laying on my stomach trying to remove ice chunks from the driveway wearing my black work pants and ballet flats before the sun has even risen is not exactly a good time.

Got to work and the morning went by pretty fast and then it is 1130am and we get a call from BC Pizza across the street. Turns out a patient had bought some pizza for us and it was ready to pick up! Happy Day:) Free pizza from my favorite joint.

peace, love and frozen cokes,
S T A C E C A T

10 Things.....I'm Back!

Well, I am back from my extended hiatus from blogging! Don't expect this post to be anything groundbreaking. Mostly i just decided to blog again because more of my friends are getting into it! (Shout out to Ben, Steph, Alyssa, and Ashley! :))

Anyway, it is February in Michigan and that means most of us our borderline depressed. Even the winter lovers like myself are getting sick of this bitter cold. -10 this morning!

Here are things that have helped me survive the winter...
*Automatic car starter. At 6am this thing has been a lifesaver.
*Biggby hot chocolate. Sure, they may be pricey and fattening (I am definitely not going to get rid of the whipped cream--best part), but they are sure a mood lifter.
*Snow days. Actually snow day. There was only one of them. But it was EPIC. Or rather, historical.
*The mall. A warm tropical place filled with signs of warmer weather.
*Trips up North. Sitting by the fireplace. Skiing. Friends.
*Space heaters. Space heater at work. Space heater at home. Thank you for keeping my toes from going frostbitten.

Well that is all for now! Hopefully I will update more regularly!

Peace and Frozen Cokes,
Staci