Pilot Blog

Hello there!

Wow this is more awkward than I expected, I feel a little bit like I'm talking to myself...

A good friend of mine started blogging a while back but I didn't come to appreciate her dedication to recording all of her life experiences until I wanted to see the pictures from her honeymoon, and they weren't on Facebook. Later on I moved far away and our little lunches at Panera had to stop, so I also couldn't catch up with her on a regular basis anymore. And she's only ONE of the people I left behind in Michigan when I moved to Illinois to follow my dreams of exploring cognitive psychology at the Ph.D level.
Ergo the purpose of this blog is to A) keep my loved ones caught up on my super exciting graduate-school life and B) keep a fun journal of this point in my life so as to look back later on and remember my experience...so here we go

The theme of today's blog is people I miss from Michigan. While it is my opinion that Illinois would be better off with a few of these particualr citizens, EACH of them has refused to follow me out to the cornfields of the midwest (can you believe that??). Luckily all have agreed to visit.

Number one:

Elizabeth

or..

Liz, Biz, Lizbeth, Betty... she answers to pretty much everything

Liz and I moved to Grand Valley and shared a dorm room our freshman year (2008-2009), and she is the BEST ROOMMATE THAT IT IS POSSIBLE TO HAVE. We have shared everything from a single bedroom to a two story townhouse during our undergraduate careers. They say that rooming with someone has one of two outcomes -- you'll either be best friends or hate each other. So glad that ours ended in an amazing friendship :)

Tied for first is also

This guy!

Eric and I have been dating for...a long time. (somewhere in ballpark of 2 1/2 years) and we have a lot of fun. Pretty much everything is fun if you do it with someone you're crazy about, and whenever we're together we're always looking for the next adventure (from exploring cities to renting movies we've never seen to hiking and kayaking to cooking...the list goes on and on). We also kick butt at Cranium and Euchre, based on our ability to read each other's minds and definitely not cheat...usually.


Next up is my lovely sister, Caroline

As you can see, we are not twins. Despite this I never stop hearing how much we look alike -- but as anyone can see from the picture, this is obviously a compliment :)
Caroline goes to school in Michigan, and is in her second year of undergrad (being three years younger than yours truly). She is SUPER SMART, so don't argue with her about environmental policy or sustainable agriculture because she is well on her way to being an expert and will own you. She's also a really good singer and makes really good guacamole.

speaking of twins...

here are two ladies who are VERY dear to my heart

On the right is Allie. According to dumb girls at parties, she and I are twins. Allie and I always have a lot of fun when we're together, and love us some good girl talk and a good movie night.
On the left is Kelly. And SHE's the one who convinced me that blogging was a good idea! Ta-dah!
This picture was taken at the Hudsonville Winery for Kelly's bachelorette party, a few weeks before she married the human equivalent of Super Man (he grew up in the country, he's strong, and has excellent manners combined with a high level of chivalry...think about it) wearing a gorgeous dress whose selection and fitting I happened to be present for :)

Another lady I love?

the one that insists we eat and drink things that are dyed green on St. Patrick's day! (see tongue)

Mallory!!!

This is Mallory, and she and I are like THIS! (pretend that you can see my index finger overlapping my middle finger). By that of course I mean that we can tell each other anything from our thoughts and views on society to what makes a cute outfit. Mallory is also really good at hair, which is sometimes very helpful to me, because I am not.

and the picture wouldn't be complete without this lady either! Melody!

Well, I'm running low on time, but I think this is pretty substantial for a first blog post. Of course there are many others I didn't have time to include, but I can definitely see a part 2 on the horizon...

In the meantime, I may as well gear up for a few pictures of my new life here....

'till then <3