Toodaloo ’09
31 Dec 2009 3 Comments
in Uncategorized Tags: Life, love
I’m thrilled to be welcoming in 2010; though, some pretty great milestones happened in 2009 that I’m so thankful to have been apart of and I’d like to share.
I…
Celebrated Rob turning a quarter of a century..
Burnt just about every single meal I tried to make in the oven…I think it’s broken, I can’t be THAT bad of a cook!
Took a private jetto Vail.
Watched Meiko chase Jack around my parents yard.
Still love Meiko kisses.
Sewed a million and one dance costumes.
Traded in my Michigan drivers license for a WI one.
Traded in Little Blue for the Tucson.
Performed in a May, August, and December dance performance.
Enjoyed watching the little girls I teach dance on stage.
Stood up as a bridesmaid for the wonderful Jessica and Steve Westbrooks wedding.
Jessica's beautiful bridal party 9/19/09
Attended the beautiful Natalie and Jesse Adkins wedding.
Natalie's in the White ;)
Attended Robs cousin, Jamie and Tom Weibel wedding.
Took a road trip to visit my friend Stacy.
Spent many wonderful Wednesday nights with Ada and Frances.
Me-Ada-Frances
Enjoyed ice skating in a park across the street.
Made some great new friends,and cherished current friendship
Purchased Meiko winter booties for her precious paws.
Installed my One2Flush—seriously if I can do it, anyone can!
Spent many weekends on the road to MI visiting family and friends.
Treasured the time spent with my awesomely awesome sister.
Macker and Me
Shopped Black Friday with my amazing Grandmother.
Oh yea…
And I got ENGAGEDto a wonderful man and my best friend, so I’ve done a lot of wedding planning, too!
toodaloo, '09
Bring on 2010–there are so many memories I can’t wait to have!
A Vaily Good Time!
30 Dec 2009 1 Comment
in Uncategorized Tags: awesomeness, Christmas, friends, holidays, Life, love, meiko, people to see, places to be, sister, snow, sports, things to do, travel
After spending 34 hours in the car and a whole week on vacation with Robbie I can officially say I’m not sick of him! Good thing since I decided to marry him!! I was sad on Monday morning when I realized I didn’t get to spend the whole day with him and had to return to work.
Rob and Me skiing
Robbie and I skied a few days at Vail. Only about 28% of the Mountain was open due to lack of the fluffy white stuff, which seems like it’s not that much but we didn’t even ski all of the 28%; it’s that big! One of the afternoons Mac was able to meet up with us and take a few runs, It was easy to spot which way she went in her green jacket and red snow pants!
Mac and Me at the top of the Gondola
MacKenzie works at a really fancy/expensive seafood restaurant called Montauk where we visited her at the bar and had really yummy lobster macaroni and martinis. The wait staff was really confused when they saw me sitting there and then saw Mac bopping around. Some of them caught on that we were twins….I heard a “there is a girl that looks JUST like Mac at the bar!” a few times.
Me and Mac and Montauk
Karrisa and Rob at Montauk
The hockey team Mac and Karrisa play for had a friends and family night since everyone’s family was in town for the holidays so Rob was able to play with everyone and I sat in the stands with Meiko. I believe Rob was the only one WITHOUT full pads, he had some under his Redwings shirt but I bet he would’ve like to have had butt pads, too! Here’s Rob trying to score a goal on Mac…
Rob in Red, Mac in Yellow--blocking the goal
Meiko's watching the game
Four of our meals we ate at Moe’s in Lionshead at Vail. They have amazing pulled pork sandwiches, banana pudding, and macaroni! For only $9 you get the sandwich, your choice of 2 sides, and a drink—for anyone that’s been to Vail, that’s a STEAL! Everything is overpriced in Vail, so overpriced the gas stations don’t even put the prices up on their displays. I guess that’s the price you pay for living in paradise.
us at Moe's!
Going on vacation with Meiko was a real treat! It was so nice to come back from skiing and be tackled by her kisses and love. She was such a good traveler, sleeping 16.75 of the 17 hours there, and 17 of the 17 hours back! I think Meiko had a great vacation too; she was spoiled with love and got a few special presents from her GrandPawents; A snuggie and some very durable squeaky toys!
meiko in her snuggie
Robbie got some really great shoes, and I got the best present ever….spending time with Rob, Mac Karrisa, and Meiko. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, I’ll get made fun of because it’s really not that funny… I had a VAILY good time –get it? Vaily instead of very… I know, I know.
sorry for the poor quality photos, I neeeeeeeeed more than just my iphone camera.
R and B.
19 Dec 2009 1 Comment
in Uncategorized Tags: engagement, Life, love
This photo was taken 3.5 years ago and is still one of my most favorite photos of us.
aww.
It was one of our first photos together, can’t you tell by our over the top “i’m in love” smiles?! Six months from today I’ll bet we will be sporting the same smiles at our wedding!
Since this photo we have, graduated from Aquinas, moved to Madison, I’ve acquired a “big girl job”, Rob has made it through 2.5 of the 5 years of Bio-Analytical Chemistry doctorate program, adopted meiko, traveled and explored around the country, become engaged, have been planning a cottage chic wedding, and continue to learn from each other. Aww.
On The Road Again.
18 Dec 2009 2 Comments
in Uncategorized Tags: Christmas, Dog, holidays, Life, people to see, places to be, sister, things to do, travel
We’re all set for our 17 hour road trip to Vail; we’ve got a full tank of gas, best friend (meiko) in tow, and a car full of smiles Here’s to a safe drive and good music to be played.
As my father always said while making sure we had everything we needed for our trip, “ski’s, boots, poles, gloves” I think we have everything needed to make this a great trip!
See you soon MacKenzie and Karrisa!
–update–we’ve made it through Iowa, now it’s robs turn to drive :)
Idea–>Magic Button!
14 Dec 2009 Leave a Comment
in Uncategorized Tags: awesomeness, Life, thoughts
I have an idea!
and big tonsils
What if I told you, I had a magic button that would make your life easier? You’d want to know what that button was, correct?
I’m here to tell you today, you can subscribe to my blog with one click of a button. Instead of having to check my blog every 10 minutes to see if I’ve updated, you will be sent a magical email letting you know I’ve updated.
All you have to do is head over to the right side of this page to the third green box and type in your email address… Easy Peasy. So, go ahead, sign up…it’s free!
Snow!
11 Dec 2009 2 Comments
in Uncategorized Tags: holidays, Life, outside, snow
On Tuesday night Madison received 18 inches of perfect white snow. It was so quiet on Tuesday night from the city going into hibernation I thought I could hear the snow fall…Wednesday morning came and the city was still silent. Schools had a snow day, the malls shut down, the University shut down, and even I had an adult snow day from work! I think the only people who went into work were those who drove the snowplows.
quiet snow
Meiko loved her first blizzard. She jumped through the snow like a little snow bunny–though, she didn’t really have a choice, it was either, jump or be left behind, so she jumped through the snow banks.
Snowball Meiko
Having this snowday was really beneficial, I was able to tone up my arms by shoveling for two hours and make sure my snow pants fit for our trip out west in a week–and they do!
me and meiko in the snow
I have to thank Jane (!) for mentioning in her blog that the falling snow was a feature for all WordPress bloggers. I investigated the setting and now for your enjoyment, I bring you…..snow falling from my blog top, well at least until January 4th! Enjoy this fake snow as much as I love the real snow :)
Smell this.
03 Dec 2009 1 Comment
in Uncategorized Tags: awesomeness, Life, meiko, snow
What is my favorite smell? Lavender? No. Cinnamon Buns? Yummy but, no. Meikos breath? Absolutly not. The smell I love is…..snow!
( I know I've used this photo before--but it's so cute)
Today I smelled and saw my first snowfall of the year. It’s a refreshing scent and look to the area. I love it, it’s beautiful and clean! People in the area are already complaining about the weather…don’t they realize they live in the Midwest, where it snows? Their “bah-humbug” spirits about the weather wont get me down though, I’m embracing the winter this year, especially since I don’t have to get in a cold car this winter! The Tucson has an automatic car starter, lucky me!
Having the snow fall tonight was so great, it’s finally starting to feel like winter and the holiday season. Robbie, Meiko, and I start our trek out west in 2 weeks to spend Christmas with MacKenzie and Karrisa.
wednesday night vandal.
06 Nov 2009 1 Comment
in Uncategorized Tags: Life
I learned an expensive lesson.
Thursdays I have morning meetings outside the office so I was eager to get to my meetings and get the day started. When approaching my car I saw a lot of glass on the ground. I then found that a cinder-block sitting on my passenger seat from being thrown in threw the driver side window. In panic, I realized I didn’t have my purse in my bag and it wasn’t in my apartment, I had forgotten it in my car the night before, it was stolen. As far as cash is concerend I normally only carry a $2 bill my Grandmother gave me a few holidays ago. I keep it around and think of her every time I get out my wallet, you can use debit cards for just about everything. The only items of value that were stolen included, my purse (a purse I’ve wanted for a really long time that “Santa” got for me last year) and everything inside it. Nothing else was taken, not the Garmin, not the ipod accessories, just the purse.
Here is a photo of how my day started…
on my way to the car
The building my parking space is next to is a little garage to the neighbors house…I hate the fact that people can walk through there, though, it’s not a high traffic area.
lack of a window
Apparently, as I was told by the police officer, cinder-blocks are too “porous” to get finger prints off so we can’t find the person who did it by that way investigation.
the cinder-block
As the cinder-block made it’s way to the passenger seat it ripped a big gash out of the driver seat and marked up the doors with scratches.
drivers side
The good news about this story is, I got my purse back. The police called me yesterday around 2pm letting me know they had my purse. Some lady was getting gas, emptied her trash from her car and found my purse in the garbage can. The people who did this, were only looking for cash, everything was still in contact, with the only thing missing–my $2 bill. My purse now sports a circle of ash from whatever they were smoking, but I’m glad to have it back.
Here’s my advice.
- don’t leave your purse in your car. ever.
- don’t vandalize other persons property.
- don’t steal, it’s not nice, and it’s not fair to the person you vandalized and stole from, with deductibles, hours missed from work, and fees for replacing cards, it gets expensive.
With a grand total of $2100 worth of damage…I sure hope the $2 bill was worth it.
Happy Howl-Ween!
31 Oct 2009 Leave a Comment
in Uncategorized Tags: Halloween, Life, meiko
You should really feel bad for Meiko for a few reasons…
1. Rob and I torture Meiko by dressing her up, and by “Rob and I”–I really mean, I dress her up.
2. We (I) dressed Meiko up for Halloween, again.
3. Our big plans of dressing Meiko up as a shark this year fell short. We are on a tight budget, you know, since we’re getting married. Leaving Meiko to wear her costume from last year instead of getting a new one.
4. She still doesn’t like being a bee, as you can see.
Beeeeee happy Meeks!
unbuzzed.
I wonder if next year she’ll like the bee costume. The third time’s a charm, right? If I was a betting woman, I would say the chances of that are slim to none.
Engagement Photos!
20 Oct 2009 3 Comments
in Wedding Recaps Tags: engagement, Life, love, photos, wedding
A couple weekends ago while we were in Grand Rapids for a wedding we met up with our photographer Genevieve McKeiver to take our engagement photos. We had so much fun with Gen-she made us feel so comfortable! These are a few of the photos she put up on her blog–thought I should share, too!
All photos in this post were taken by the amazing Gen! If you’re in need of a fantastic photographer please check out her other work, shoot her an email, she is wonderful to work with!
I turn my camera on.
24 Aug 2009 1 Comment
in Uncategorized Tags: Life, meiko, photography
A couple weeks ago when I was back in the ‘Zoo visiting with the best photographers ever, YourGameFace. They were showing me some cool photos they took and I was curious to know what they had done in Photoshop to make their images look so great. They sure fooled me! There is actually a really awesome application for your iPhone, called CameraBag. For $1.99 you can put a choice filter on a photo you took with you iPhone or photo you’ve uploaded to your phone from your camera.
Before.
The photo above is the before photo taken with my phone of Meiko laying on the sofa Saturday afternoon looking at me like I need to get a life and stop taking photos of her. I’m baffled by how she is comfortable in that position. Just look at her front left leg…
After.
Here is the after. The filter I used is called Helga, other filters include a fisheye lens, black and white, 1962,1974, magazine, etc. There is no limit as to how many filters you want to overlay each other. I didn’t do anything except import this image into my application and choose a filter, no cropping, no changing levels, nothing. Now you know my secret to great photos….starting now, I turn my camera on.
Meiko love.
01 Jul 2009 1 Comment
in Uncategorized Tags: Life, love, meiko, people to see, things to do
Meiko Meiko Meiko. Golly, I miss that dog. This past weekend we ventured to my parents house to do some wedding planning and to see my awesome old bosses, now friends at YourGameFace.
Because I had to work on Monday morning and Robbie caught the flu, making it unbearable to ride in the car for 5 hours, I left him with my parents for the week while I came back to the real world, to work. I know I’ve mentioned it before, Meiko and my moms dog, Jack are best buddies. Meiko will chase him around the yard for hours and since Robbie wasn’t coming back with me I left Meiko with him at my parents house. It would be more fun for her anyways. Rather than sitting in her crate all day, she’s had the luxury to lounge on the sofa, play with Jack and just enjoy her week.
Here is a photo of Meiko being a great sick buddy to Robbie while he sleeps to get better….adorable.
meiko rolled up comforting robbie.
I forgot how lonely it is now that I don’t have her to snuggle up with, take on walks, etc. I can’t wait for tomorrow night when I will be welcomed by her little dance of excitement when I walk through the door…well I hope I’m welcomed with the excitement and kisses!
trying to chew off an eyeball of the camel...
I of course miss Robbie, too.
and we’re off!
05 Jun 2009 5 Comments
in Uncategorized Tags: engagement, house, Life, wedding
After my last post, nothing has deemed important enough to share! How do you follow up and engagement post?
I know, I know…. I said I wasn’t going to blog too much about the wedding process, but honestly that might be harder than I thought, since it’s consuming any and all of my free time. Thankfully I have a very talented wedding planner, my mother. Between everyone’s ideas she’ll make it happen beautifully!
So far we’ve got the date set… June 19th, 2010.
Bukowski Chapel-Aquinas College
The Chapel is booked.
reception site...
The reception site held, my parents house on the lake.
fianceed couple.
And a great man to walk away with at the end of the night. I think we’re off to a really great start.
I have a new favorite quote, it goes like this…
“Being engaged is easy, you’re doing all the work.” Said by my great fiancé. Which is true, I am doing most of the work right now, making phone calls and doing research but trust me, he’ll have his fair share in wedding planning…
Miss. —> Mrs.
26 May 2009 3 Comments
in Wedding Recaps Tags: engagement, Life, wedding
If my biggest dilemma right now is that it’s way too difficult to take a photo of an engagement ring, I think I’m doing just fine…
day after the proposal
I’m engaged to a wonderful, smart, handsome man. I can’t wait to spend every day from here on out as the happiest days of our lives together.
Rob got down on one knee Saturday night with his grandmothers engagement/wedding band and asked me a simple question. I’m so honored to have this ring. It’s an heirloom representing love over many decades.
the ring. :)
I’m going to try super hard not to blog about the whole process because I want there to be an element of surprise for my guests. So, that’s good news, in a year there will be lots of posts!
Twitter.
24 Apr 2009 Leave a Comment
in Uncategorized Tags: Life, social networking
my tweets.
Feel free to follow along, PennyRoulette is now on Twitter, officially. I’ve been a member since April 2008 and have only recently decided to update that social network part of my life. I can’t promise to floor you with amazing content, but that’s the point, right?
VS.
24 Feb 2009 5 Comments
in Uncategorized Tags: Life
In the left corner of the ring we have “the dentist”….in the right, “the optometrist” who will win?
If I was a betting girl, I’d put my money down on the optometrist. Yesterday I had a dentist appointment and today I had a vision appointment. If you compare the two appointments, I was poked at and prodded longer at the dentist, and today I had to sit on a little chair putting my head up to a torture machine all the while keeping my eyes open to have a puff of air shot into my eye. So what’s worse? When the dental hygienist asks lots of questions and you can’t answer because both her hands are in your mouth or sitting comfortably in a dimmed room reciting letters off the wall? I will admit I’m a big baby when it comes to the glaucoma test, but knowing my reward at the end is to pick out a brand new pair of shiny glasses is totally worth it. Yesterday I walked out with no cavities (yay!) and a toothbrush. Today, well actually in 10 days, I’ll have a brand new pair of glasses.
The Optometrist wins, hands down…
my new specs
Those are the new frames, what do you think?
This was the first time I went to a dentist and optomitrist as a “big girl” using my own insurance, making my own appoitments, and choosing where to go. I was always on my parents insurance , gone to the same dentist and optomitrist since I was born. I would make those neccessary appoitments when I would visit home. Now that I’m no longer on theirs and haven’t lived in southwest MI for a couple years I thought I should find some people across the lake I could trust with my body.
2008 Recap.
31 Dec 2008 1 Comment
in Uncategorized Tags: Life
A little recap of all things fantastic about 2008.
Adopting Meiko
Watching Meiko run around the apartment in excitement.
Snuggling with Meiko.
Shopping for Meiko.
Anything and everything for Meiko.
Exploring another fabulous year with Robbie :)
Attending weddings of friends and family.
Refinishing, Reupholstering, Repurposing…
White Chocolate Mochas.
My dream desk.
Taking Ballet lessons again.
Teaching dance lessons.
Skiing in Vail.
Traveling with YourGameFace.
93.1 XRT radio station in Chicago.
Time spent with family and friends in Kalamazoo.
The perfect pair of jeans from Gap.
Wall-e.
Sending and receiving letters.
Starting this blog!
Sprinkle doughnuts.
Starting and COMPLETING many projects.
Sewing 1, ,2, 3,4! dresses, and actually wearing them.
Having a job I like waking up and going to everyday.
Having a job.
Riding and flying in a private airplane!
The Union Terrace.
Cheese, sausage, and crackers.
My family, friends, and you!
Farewell 2008!
Meiko
23 Aug 2008 2 Comments
in Uncategorized Tags: Dog, Life
Earlier this summer Rob and I adopted a Boston Terrier. She makes me smile. How can I resist the wide smile on her boxy little face. One of my favorite Meiko-traits would be, every morning she gets 3 treats when I put her in her crate. When I get home from work, she has saved all 3 treats and will parade around the apartment with them in her mouth, one at a time. She’ll run back into her crate get the second, and third after wiggling around for 10 minutes she’ll finally remember it’s time to go potty outside.
Let’s say I had to sit in a room for more than 5 hours a day with a tasty treat, that said treat, wouldn’t have lasted more than 5 minutes. Meiko didn’t inherit my patience, that’s for sure!
A couple weeks ago Meikos doggie day care held a “dog days of summer” party. She did really well on the obstacle course. This is a photo of her at the end of the tube she ran through…see what I was saying about the wide smile? irresistible!
