A New England Fall

Since my last post was a little heavy, I decided to add some fun fall pictures to cheer up a bit.

I love the fall here in New England. Fall is my favorite time of year and I have taken full advantage of all the fun fall-y things.

A few weekends ago, Chelsea's sister and her boyfriend came to visit and we had a few other friends over. We hiked to the top of a lookout tower for a great view of all the fall leaves and we could even see the bridge to Maine from there. That night we had hot apple cider, apple crisp, and a fire in our outdoor fireplace. Sunday we ventured out to a nearby farm. They had beautiful horses and a bunch of newborn lambs. Chelsea and I had a blast watching the little lambs try out there new legs by running around and jumping on their mom's backs. It was hilarisous. Then we all headed out to the farm's corn maze. It was shaped like a skunk and throughout the maze there were mailboxes with skunk trivia questions inside. If you got the answer right, you were sent in the right direction, if you got it wrong, you were sent to a dead end. We did pretty well; 7/10 right.





















The next weekend, my friend Tim and I headed to Keene, NH, about an an hour and a half away for their famous Pumpkin Fest. This is the world's largest jack-o-lantern gathering! People bring their pumpkins into town and the main streets are lined up to display them! There were food and craft vendors all over. It was really fun! Nikki had called me the week before to say that Rachel Ray mentioned Pumpkin Fest in her food magazine and that I should definitely go to it. I am super glad I did!











This weekend I had to work at a a visit day on Saturday and then I went home and warmed up by our fire and watched movies with Chelsea, since it was so cold and drizzly. It was the perfect lazy fall day. Sunday, was gorgeous and almost 60, so my friend Tim came and we carved pumpkins out on the back deck in the sunshine!

:(

I have really not been as good at updating this as I want to be. Sometimes I even forget that I have the blog until someone mentions that they read something on here. I wonder how many people read it anyways? I wish there was a way to see how many people view this. I assume it's just my family, until a random friend brings up something I blogged about. Hmmm.... Anyway, I think I will keep it going, just as a way to write about what is going on in my life, even if it's for my own sake.

So, things have been a little rough in the past two weeks. My Grandpa Williams has been in the hospital. My mom called last week and said that it was probably going to be his time. He has been a quadriplegic for over 20 years now and with this has come a myriad of health problems. Last week his was hospitalized for pnuemonia in both lungs. Of course, getting the phone call was really hard to hear, but it's even harder to be this far away from home. I slept with my phone right by my pillow and had it right on my desk at work everyday, just waiting for news. The call still hasn't come. He just keeps pulling through! I am just praying for him and especially for my grandma who is going through so many emotions and struggles. I am sending all my love their way.

Then, just a few days ago, my mom called to tell me that Nikki and Steve lost their baby. My heart is just breaking for them. I wasn't going to blog about it, but since I already wrote that they were expecting, I feel like it's important to post this as well and just ask everyone to keep them in your prayers. As a sister, it is almost unbearable to know that someone you love with all your heart is going through such a hard time. I want to fix everything and make it better and I can't and I hate that. More than anything, I want to physically be there with them. I want to hug my sister and hold her while she cries, and I can't. I absolutely love living out here, but it's at times like these that I wish I was with my family.

Becoming an Auntie!

I am so excited right now, I am about to burst!!

I am going to be an aunt twice!!! Kimi's little boy, Jackson, is due on January 8th. I cannot wait until he arrives, and am secretly hoping he will come a little early, so I can be there to see the birth when I am home for Christmas!!

Then, Nikki and Steve called yesterday and are expecting too!!! I am overjoyed for them! Their little one is due in June. I am so excited to have two babies to spoil!!

God is truly amazing and I cannot believe how blessed our family is!

I am on top of the world with the great news!!

Congrats to my both my beautiful sisters (and of course, Steve too!)

Boston

This weekend was busy! Saturday I had to work at our University Open House for prospective students. It was a long day, but went really well. After work, Chels and I drove to Boston to hang out with friends in celebration of Chelsey and another friend, Tim's, birthdays. It was so much fun! My friend Ally lives in a super cute apartment in South Boston, so we stayed with her. She lives on the top floor and has a really cool roof balcony that overlooks the city. We even had birthday brownies as we overlooked the lights of the city. Yesterday, we all walked down to a cute little breakfast cafe from Ally's place. They had fantastic turkey hash! After that, we headed down to Castle Island on the harbor. We watched people fish, planes, take off at the airport, and got to see the old fort there. It was a great weekend, but it flew by so fast!

Pictures of the Kitchen and Living Room

Here are the pictures of my living room (although now we have a big flat screen t.v.!), kitchen and dining room!

Out on the Town

Here are a few pictures of me and my co-workers!


Sherry and I with Gnarles; our Wildcat mascot during University Days on campus





Me with my co-workers, Jaclyn, and Sherry




Danny, Chels and I went out to a Mexican restaurant after a successful Saturday Visitors Day.

Roomates

I am so lucky to have found such a great roomate! Chelsea was on my interview committee which is how I met her. After my interview I asked her where most people live and what the cost of living is like in New Hampshire. She said a few of the girls there were looking for roomates. So, when I got the job, I asked her if anyone still needed a roomate and she said she did, so a week later I moved it!! We are so alike in so many ways! We have the same car, are the second child of four, and both have a purse and shoe obsession. I think we will get along just great! Here are a few pictures from our roomate photoshoot!

New Market

I live close to the cute little town of New Market right on the river. The other day after work, I stopped to take a few pictures. Here they are!

Exeter

I live in the historic town of Exeter. It is so gorgeous! I love the traditional old New England Buildings and the fact that the town runs along a gorgeous river.

The Ocean

I love living by the ocean! The beaches are less than 15 miles from my house and you better believe I am there every chance I get. The water here is pretty cold, but I am used to Lake Superior, so I get right in and swim! Not to mention that there are a lot of cute surfers here too!! ;)

Mount Major

A few weekends ago my roomate, Chelsea and I along with a few friends drove up North to hike Mount Major. The summit showcases a gorgeous view of Lake Winnipesaukee; New Hampshire's largest lake. I was a little slow getting to the top, but once I got there, it was so worth it!

House Pictures I promised

I am finally putting pictures up of my house!! Enjoy!





My back and side yard. My roomate Chelsey just bought a patio set. That's a picture of her and her friend Mike.







My bathroom






My sunny bedroom with my new bed!







I am not sure why I don't have pictures of my kitchen and living room on my computer. I will add those once I find them!

So Much to Tell

Wow! Once again, time has escaped me and it's 2 months since I last blogged! Well, there has been a big change in my life. No, I am not getting married, 'nor have I had a baby. I moved!! I am now living in Exeter, New Hampshire! It is wonderful and I love it. So, now, the details, although, I will try to be brief.

In early June, I began applying for admissions positions all over. As I think I might have previously mentioned, rumors were flying around Northland that there would be massive layoffs, so I thought it's better to be safe than sorry and started sending out apps. Well, about 6 weeks later, I got a call from the University of New Hampshire for a phone interview. I was super excited and as soon as I got off the phone I begin checking out the college more and it's location. The phone interview was tough, but I made it to the on campus interview portion. I was called on a Tuesday afternoon about the interview. So, Wednesday after work, I drove the 4 hours to the Minneapolis airport to fly out the next morning. I got to Durham, NH at 9 that night and interviewed the next morning. The interview was really intense and lasted almost 4 hours. I somehow felt really at peace though and was more excited than nervous. After the interview, I checked out the area and loved it!! I knew I wanted this position. After 2 weeks of not hearing, I had assumed, I hadn't gotten the job. Well, lo and behold, I was offered the position of Diversity Admissions counselor! I accepted and last week drove with my wonderful parents on the 23 hour drive through Canada to get here! We drove through the Green Mountains of Vermont, which are amazing!!! We arrived on a Friday night, where I was able to see the house I am living in for the first time! I was blessed to have found a place before moving here. The girl who interviewed me, is also an admissions counselor and was looking for a roomate. The house is awesome!! We moved all my stuff in that night. Sat. we bought some things for the house and unpacked. That night I drove my parents up the shore of Maine where we got to see the waves crashing against the coastline in the aftermath of a hurricane. It was really cool. We had a wonderful lobster dinner that night too right near a lighthouse and continued to watch the waves! Sunday I took my parents to campus, where they bought their UNH gear. It was really cute to see how excited they were for me! My mom even asked, "do you think we should get the dogs UNH dog dishes?" haha. Then I drove then along the beach to see all the ritzy houses. That night we went into Portsmouth, which is the happenin' town nearby. It was awesome. My parents left Monday morning after I left for work. It was so wonderful to have them there! I cannot imagine doing all of that alone! They are angels!

Last Monday I started work and I love it! It will definitely push me a lot and I know challenges will arise, but I also know that God put me in this position for a reason and I am excited to see how he uses me here! My co-workers are great and super helpful. One night after work last week, we all went out for appetizers afterwards. It was so nice! This past weekend, Chelsea, my roomate, and I had people over for a backyard fire. We made nachos and smores and my friend Eric, who is a co-worker brought his guitar. It was so much fun! Saturday we did some shopping and Sunday I went down to the beach to watch all the surfers and sea-kayakers. It was so cool! Monday, a group of us went and hiked Mount Major which overlooks NH's biggest lake. It was gorgeous! I know I can definitely get used to all of this!!

Okay, so that was the short version and I have lots more to say. But I am off for now. I will post pics very soon!!

I'm a Quarter of a Century Old!

Yesterday I turned the big 2-5! It was the best birthday ever! I met mom and dad in Crystal Falls, MI for breakfast at a little cafe. We then all drove together to Wallace, MI to the DeYoung Family Zoo. It was more like an animal educational rescue center than a zoo. This guy just started making a zoo in his backyard in the middle of nowhere U.P.! It was so awesome. They take animals that other zoos can't take anymore and give them homes here. When we got there, we got to watch the "Big Cat Feeding". It was cool to watch the zoo keeper chuck huge chickens over the fence and watch the lions and tigets jump in the air to catch them. This zoo has the biggest Wild Cat exhibit in the midwest. There is even a dad tiger who is helping to raise his cubs, which is the first time to ever happen in the world!! Animanl Planet is coming to film it soon! After the cat feeding mom and I got to go into the fawn pen with all the orphan fawns. They were so cute! One sucked on our fingers! Then we went to the Baby Animal Show. Mom and I got to hold baby bobcats, cougars, and a joey (baby kangaroo). We also got to see a baby grizzly wrestle with the zoo keeper and pet a coyote pup. It was amazing!! We ended the day with a picnic of grilled chicken, potatoe salad, and strawberry shortcake! What a wonderful birthday!!

4th of July Weekend in Duluth, MN

Megs and I spent all day Saturday and Sunday laying on the beach. It was wonderful!! It was so relaxing and felt like summer! I jumped in Lake Superior quite a few times. The weather has been pretty chilly this summer, so the lake hasn't warmed up at all (not that it ever gets warm), but it still felt good to cool off quick. Sat. night we went down to Canal Park and watch the fireworks by one of the tall ships in the harbor. Afterwards we went to "Grandma's", which is a popular place to dance. It was so much fun!!! I love dancing!! Megan and I danced until the place closed. It was a perfect weekend!

Rose Garden in Duluth

I took Wed, Thurs, and Fri, of last week off for the 4th of July. Wednesday night I drove to Duluth to meet up with my friend Megan. She is leaving to head off to grad school in Denver next month, so this was our last big bang girls weekend before she leaves. We then drove up to her family's cabin on the North Shore of Minnesota, near Tofte. We got in really late on Wednesday night. Thursday morning I woke up and was able to see the view for the first time. It was gorgeous!! The cabin overlooks a little cove on Lake Superior with wild lupine growing all over. It was breathtaking! I am so often amazed by how blessed I am to live in such a gorgeous place and to have the opportunities to see the things I do! Thursday we relaxed at the cabin and wondered around to some of the other beaches. We even saw a little fawn on the way. Friday morning we got up to a gorgeous day and headed to Duluth for the rest of the weekend.

Pics from Meg's Cabin in Tofte, MN

Ashland Sunset

Pics from Mom's Garden

Mom's garden is gorgeous, as always. So I had to sneak a few pictures of the garden in while I was home!

Father's Day at Da Camp

Father's Day weekend was a lot of fun. I drove home after I went to a college fair in Ripon, WI. Mom and Nikki were visiting my grandparents, so dad and I had some father-daughter hang out time Friday night. Saturday we went down to Da Camp where Nikki, mom and Matt joined us. Sunday, we had a Father's Day "Surf and Turf" dinner with our family and Steve's Dad. Nikki and Steve brought crab from Alaska and Matt brought steaks from his favorite butcher. It was so good!!! Nikki and Steve also brought their new edition to their family; a 10-month-old black lab named Halibut, or Haley for short. They got her on their trip up to Alaska. She is adorable and all the dogs had a great time playing while we ate! We also got to see some little baby birds chirping away outside. There was a little nest that was built on top of the lantern we hang outside of the door. They were so fat and so cute!

This weekend finally felt like summer! Yay!! It was much needed!
Friday after my shift at the gym, I headed down to the waterfront to check out Relay for Life. I always love the excitement there, and of course, the cause. I walked a lap for my grandma and my uncle (who are both recently in remission), my aunt (who passed away after battling breast cancer), and a co-worker whose mom was just diagnosed. I started to get a little choked up thinking about it, but also prayed for all of those people and thanked God for his hand in healing too! When I got back I talked to Maggie (my grandma) and Dewey (my uncle) on the phone for quite awhile. It was great to talk to them. I miss them!
Saturday I administered the ACT's on campus for 5 1/2 hours. I really don't mind doing them at all since I get to bring a book to read while the kids are testing and it's like $20 an hour! After this, Claire and I had planned to hit up the beach for the first time this summer, but that idea crashed and burned when a big thunderstorm came through. I love storms though, so I didn't mind it and it made it feel like summer!
Oh yeah!! I almost forgot, there is a store downtown who will sell my photography! So, Sat. I made a bunch of prints and matted all of them and brought them to put up in the store! I am not sure how popular they will be, but it's still kind of cool! After that, Claire, Charissa (another friend) and I headed for a quick impromptu trip to Duluth. We went out to eat and then wandered around the mall (I am poor, so there was no spending, but it was fun to window shop). We had a great time!! I also found a cute dress on sale at Khol's for a wedding I am ushering in this summer. I was really excited about the deal I found! We didn't get home that night until 11:00!

Sunday, Claire and I got a bunch of great summer food and brought it to the beach. Chrysa and our friend Kate met up with us there. It was the perfect summer day!! The sun felt great, the sound of the waves was perfect, the food was delicious, and the company was fun! We were there for like 5 hours! When I got home, I decided to go for a run/walk. It was great! I went for 6 miles along the Ashland Rail Trail, which winds along the lake shore. It was wonderful.

So, last night was another crafty night. I wasn't really satisfied with my photo collage wall. It just didn't look put together at all, so I decided to try something different and use my crafty clothespins too. I put pictures as well as cards on the wall. Kind of a fun was to mix it all up. Still not sure what I think about it, but I like it better than just the frames, I think. Here is what I did.






I have also been trying to figure out how to organize my earrings. It drives me nuts to dump out my jewelry box every morning searching for a matching pair. So, I decided to make my own earring organizer. I took 2 old frames and staple-gunned window screening to the back of the frame. Then I took some ribbon and staple gunned that to the back too. They look pretty cute and are really handy!

Brand-new Fawn

The other day, there was a brand-new baby fawn curled up against our building. It was so tiny. We all figured he must have been born in the past 24 hours. The mom was wondering around, but wouldn't go right up to the fawn. We were afraid that we were spooking her, so we went inside and watch from the window as she came to her baby. It was really cool to watch!

The past few days have been super lazy and a bit crafy too! It's really nice to relax! I used to have phonecall nights at the college on Thurs, worked at the gym on Wed. and Fri., and belly dancing on Thursday. Now that it's summer, I no longer have phone call nights, belly dancing is off for June, and I only work until 7 now on Fridays instead of 9! I have so much extra time! This weekend was wonderful and much needed. Friday, I had a touch of the stomach flu, so I called it an early night after my gym shift. Patti and Claire stopped over for a bit to say hi and then I went to bed. Saturday morning, I had Saturday duty at the college and then Claire and I drove up to Bayfield to check out some of the cute little shops since it was a cold rainy day. That night, we had invited some friends for a bonfire on the beach, but the rain bombed that idea, so we cooked hotdogs on Grant and Claire's grill instead. Our friend Chrysa joined us and we even cooked smores over the grill too! We sat under a tree which protected us from the rain. It was really fun!Sunday, Nikki and Steve stopped by on their way to the airport to head to Alaska for a week. It was good to see them, even if it was quick. Then I ran to Walmart to print off some of my pics. I realized that as much as I love taking pics, I don't have any up in my apartment. So I got a few more cheap frames to add to my collection and framed a ton of pics to put up in a photo collage. I am not sure if I really like it, but it's nice to have some personal pics up now! Then I decided to be a little crafty while I was watching movies. I took 50 clothespins and decoupaged them with funky paper. I am going to make some into magnets to hold papers on my fridge and with the others, I am going to hang cute ribbon on one of my walls and then clip the pins up to hold papers and photos on. We'll see how it turns out. I just thought the clips were cute! Yesterday, after work, I headed to Washburn (10 minutes outside of Ashland) to pick up an application to waitress at a restaurant. I am in need of extra cash even more now that we took a paycut. I think I could make more as a waitress tham the 6.50/hr I make at the gym. I might get some good weekend hours too!
Then I came home and cleaned my much neglected bedroom! It feels so much better to have my room all cleaned up now!! Sigh!

Here are a few pics of the rainy cookout, the clothespins and the picture collage wall: