So, I have a chance to catch you all up now! Last week, I got to stay with my grandparents while traveling to college fairs for work! One night my cousin Jennifer and her husband, Sean came over for dinner with me and my grandparents. It was great! We had rigatoni, which my grandma knows is my favorite! Then, we played cards, which is a must while we are there! It was great!! The next morning I was supposed to go to visit a high school in Lansing, but I called before I left and there were no students signed up to visit with me. So, I got to sleep in another hour and spend the morning with my grandparents. A good family friend, Uncle Al, came over with a man he knew who has Parkinson's. The man was recently diagnosed and was talking to Al about it. So, Uncle Al brought him over to talk with my grandpa, who has had Parkinson's for 20 years! It was really interesting listening to them talk about it.

After they left, I went with my grandparents down to their little cafe for lunch and then I had to head out to Ann Arbor for a high school fair. The fair was crazy!! It was extremely busy for a high school fair, which is great!! The students were fantastic and again, I ran out of all my materials, which is a good problem to have! I love Ann Arbor. I love the plethora of cultures that are represented. The downtown is really cool. There were all sorts of great restaurants and neat shops. It makes me really want to live there! I just love the hippee, urban, cultured, collegiate feel of it all. That night I drove to Midland, which was almost a 2-hour drive.

The next morning I got up at 5:45 to leave by 6:15 so I could get back to Ashland before my gym shift. I was exhausted and was not looking forward to the 9+ hour drive! But, I packed up and headed out in the early morning rain. About 20 minutes into the drive, the rain turned to snow, making the roads very slushy. It was impossible to go more than 45 mph in a 70. Along the route, my stomach was not happy with me, making me take 4 emergency gas station bathroom stops along the way. Between the snow, and my stomach, I knew I would not making to Ashland before my shift. So, I called in and my boss said they would get someone to cover until I could get there. Ugh. I called my dad, to see what the weather was like in the U.P. He said it was gorgeous and he was right! About 30 minutes after crossing the Mackinaw Bridge the sun was out and the roads were bare. At one point I pulled over to take a picture of a bunch of deer drinking by a stream near Lake Michigan. When I went to turn the car around to get a good shot I glanced out over the ice shelf on the lake just in time to watch a coyote running across the ice. I sat and watched him for awhile. He was running like mad, and then he would slip on the ice and slide around. It was hilarious. He was really far off, so I didn't get great pics. But I will post a few. I also stopped to take a few pics of a light house in the southern U.P., I think it was in Escanaba. I finally made it back to Ashland afte 12 hours in the car!! I was beyond exhausted and barely made it through my 3 hour shift at the gym.

The next day I had to be to Northland's campus at 7:30 am to administer the ACT's. I was so tired, but it's an easy $100! So, I really can't complain! Then I went home and took a 2 hour nap before Patti's pregnancy photoshoot, which was so much fun!! When I got home a little after 8 that night, I put on my pj's and relaxed for awhile and went to get some much needed sleep!

Sunday morning, I drove out to Patti's to snag a ride with her to her church. I have really wanted to find a church here, but have been having a hard time. It's always weird to go alone. Her church is a tiny little thing in the middle on nowhere, but it was full of people! There were so many kids there too! It was a good sermon too. I think I will be going back soon. The service made me think about a lot of things. God provides for us in strange way sometimes. And sometimes it's the little things that help the most. Fpr example, lately, I have really been struggling with money, and as much as I try not to let it get to me, it has really stressed me out. I was getting nervous about my next set of bills and knew that I would just make them all, but had no money for food or gas for the week. I didn't know what I was going to do. Then I got an email saying that a payment went through to my account from something I sold on ebay. I wasn't expecting the payment for another week, so it was perfect! It was really like an answer to prayer. Even being asked to do the ACT's was great, because I really needed that extra money. God provides and never leaves you alone. Even when we feel really discouraged and don't know how things will work out in the end, they always do. Sigh. God is good. I know He will help me figure all of this money stuff out. :) I totally was lazy the rest of that day, which was wonderful!!

Monday, I took a half day so I could meet with college friends at the Twin's Home Opener. I picked up my friend Johnny in Duluth and then we headed to Minneapolis. We had some good chats on the way there, since I hadn't caught up with him in ages! We finally made it to the dome and found parking. Outside of the dome was crazy! The game was sold out since it's the last home opener in the Metrodome (they are building a new outdoor stadium). There were people everywhere! It was great! We found our other friends and after hugging everyone, we settled into our seats. It was so much fun! The Twin's lost big time. But it was really fun. I am not a huge sports person, but I love going to sports games. I love the excitement of the crowd, and of course being surrounded by friends, especially friends I don't get to see to often, is always great. The game ended around 10ish, so we then headed to Old Chicago in Uptown for 1.99 personal pizzas! I hadn't eaten much since breakfast, so I was famished!! Then I headed across the cities to stay at Megan's house for the night. We chatted in her room that night until we both konked out. I headed out from there yesterday at 7 to pick up Johnny and head back. After dropping him off, I headed back to Ashland and staight into work.

Oh yeah! Another story! I have a new boss now! I am really excited, because I think he will be great for us. He is currently the Director of Financial Aid, so he worked with us before too. He has implemented a work night for each of us, where we work from noon-8 and call students. So, yesterday was my day. Which worked fine, since I could take the morning to drive back from the cities.

Whew!! Okay, I think that was all!!

Here are some pictures of the events described above: