Last night, my Uncle Tim and his girlfriend, Nikia, got married along Lake Michigan around 8:00 while the sun set over the water...definitely a beautiful image, but I, unfortunately, was not able to get a good picture.
It's been a while since I've been to that side of the state and as we were driving past the signs for the state parks, I was already planning a mini trip to the lake for a day trip.
It was nice to see the whole family together and reunite with the neighborhood friends. Let me just tell you that the stories were hilarious!
The reception was at this club in the Muskegon. The room started out a little divided, but by the end of the night, the two families came together on the dance floor. When we walked out, my younger cousin had everyone in the place in tears from laughing so hard while he was dancing with the brides mom!
It was definitely worth losing my voice for!
Mom's friend decided to start calling me "Little Ann" after my mom, but I think he should have been calling Hillary that.
Hillary's cupcakes were a HIT! I hear that they were better than the wedding cake that was professionally made!
Almost looks too good to eat! ;o)
Note: I tried to post pics from my camera phone, but they wouldn't upload correctly. Sigh
Who knew catching up on blogposts would make me feel better? The last couple weeks have been so crazy with moving, family and work that all of these thoughts swirled in my head and wouldn't leave me alone. So here they are!
I am not sure what made me think that moving would be a good idea! It's extremely stressful and there is so many T's to cross and I's to dot and my lack of patience makes things worse.
So far, the apartment is looking quite nice and I am so glad that the ratty futon is FINALLY out of there....almost five years later! I ended up getting a leather chaise lounge to replace it.
It was kinda wierd celebrating my birthday with the fam two weeks before the actual day, but whatever. It was fun and the cupcakes that Hillary made were DELISH!
Despite all of the negative press that Flint has gotten and will continue to get, it was amazing to see the city come together for the Back To The Bricks car cruise this past weekend. Over a period of four days, a few hundred thousand people came out! What a beautiful sight to see and the cars were AWESOME!
Can you believe the month is just about over?!
NBA season is almost here!!
Bones season 6 starts in 29 days!
My nerd moment of the week: I picked up a copy of the Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri and am in the middle of the Inferno. I remembered why I loved reading it in high school. The style of writing is amazing! And to think that this book was written in the 13th century...wow! I honestly could write a separate post about this, but I'll spare you.
We're over half way through the week...that should make anyone happy!
Off to a wedding this weekend...my uncle is getting married. sniff, sniff
Saturday, I went with Dad and the little’s to Back to the Bricks, a classic car show in downtown Flint. This is something of a tradition that started several years back with Dad, Jay and I, but Jay’s schedule has made it so that he usually misses the show. I already know what you’re thinking. A car show in the middle of downtown Flint? Um no! All I say is hear me out on this and then you can say what you want.
Years ago, Flint was a thriving city thanks to General Motors, but when GM left the area leaving a few spots open, they took the jobs with them. Flint, along with Detroit and other spots in Michigan, was hit extremely hard and is slowly coming back. When most people hear about Flint, it’s usually nothing positive and to me it’s not fair. Due to the crime rate, lack of jobs and an overall negative image, this city has been forgotten about over the years.
As the four of us were walking through the streets looking at all of the cars that people brought out to show off, Dad and I were amazed by how many people came out and how the show has grown over the years. Almost everywhere we turned, there was a vendor or two promoting their business and this was not the case even last year. To me, it seemed like the city of Flint pulled out all the stops for this. There were now more restaurants and stores open, which was beautiful to me. What got me was the amount of people that come out for this show. To this city and surrounding areas, this show isn’t just a show, but The Show. Almost a way of life. This city, no matter the race or background, comes together for a classic car show to support this area and each other.
While we were telling Mom about it over dinner, Hillary said, “You know, I usually don’t like cars, but going to this show is always fun.” And she’s right. One may not necessarily like cars and even the idea of going to a car show puts them to sleep, but this car show has something for everyone. It may be the cars, the music, seeing what the different vendors have or just walking around the downtown area to see the new changes. I feel like if Flint put together more events like this that encouraged the city to come together, more people would see how far the city has come and maybe change their attitude toward this area.
If Saturday hadn’t been the last day of the show, I would have encouraged anyone reading this to check it out to not only to see the cars (although that is the best part), but to see how beautiful the downtown area really is. Despite this little tidbit, I would still recommend checking out the area. Plenty of restaurants, shops, the University of Michigan Flint and museums are definitely worth checking out.
Last, a guy that I work with walked into my office (yes, people...my office!) and said, "I have two questions for you." The first was "Do you think that the Miami Heat will beat the Chicago Bulls record of 72-10?" The second was "If these two teams ever played each other, who would win?" Yes, I think that the new Miami Heat team is extremely talented, but I don't think this team should be compared to the 90's Bulls with Jordan, Pippen, Rodman and Co. This is a team that set the standards for all future teams. Everything about them was great...the defense, 3 point shoots, a solid body in the paint, everything! They almost seemed like a crazy questions to ask, but it made me think.
Today I said goodbye to my interns who called themselves my kids and they called me Mom or Mama Tiff. The past interns that I have worked with, I have rarely thought about them again unless we were telling stories, but these three were different. Andie and Jill wormed their way into my life before I had a say with their crazy stories and random moments. When Meg, the youngest started about a month after them, she followed in their footsteps and began calling me Mama Tiff.
Today was hard for me because these kids kept me on my toes and I became so used to them always being around. I looked out for them the way a parent would look out for their kids and hated when they were forgotten about by others. I found that with these three, there was never a dull moment. Whether it was decorating my new office last month, hearing about Andie's day from hell, Jill's terrible roommates for the summer or laughing over how excited Meg was over Shark Week.
Their parting gift
Allison, Meg, me, Jess, Jill, Andie and Adair
When Jill and Andie first started in our office, I noticed that the word that they used to describe everything was RUDE! Of course, when Meg started in the office, she started using this word as well. Now when I hear or say this word, I will always think of them.
Appointments had a lunch for them to thank them for all of their help yesterday and it's already hard enough for me to think of something to write in a card other than, "Thank you and good luck," but when it was even harder for me because I actually liked them. When I finished the last card, I actually had to walk away hoping like hell that I wouldn't cry! (Yes, I'm human and I do cry sometimes!) Amy and I asked a couple times if they really had to leave today and unfortunately, the answer was yes. Sigh
To my kids, Thank you for a crazy summer! You will definitely be missed, but I'm sure you already know that! Jill, please hold it down in DC and I'm sure I'll be visiting! Andie, please stay away for the bikers and keep the random stories coming! Meg, what can I say? You definitely changed my opinion of high schoolers with your maturity and sass. I know that you all will do well in the upcoming semester. When you are tempted to do something crazy, please stop and think of what look I would be giving you at that moment if I were there. Hopefully, that will make you rethink your choices. Take care of yourselves!
Today was one of those Monday's that could have gone somewhere! (And that's putting it nicely.) This afternoon, I needed a ruler, one of those many things that are everywhere until you need one. After searching all over the place, I finally asked Amy if she had one and she did...yay. She asked me why I didn't have one and I told her that it's best that I didn't have one because I would be tempted to use it as a weapon when people started to irritate the living hell out of me and walked away. I am pretty sure she thought I was kidding! By the end of the day, I'm sure she agreed with me.
In an hour and half, I was this close to using it on a few people and when she walked into my office just before five o'clock, I had just about had it with people and their stupidity!
So, as a note, I should never have anything that can be used as a weapon when I am dealing with really frustrating people!
Kthanxbai!
Ps. I really do hate that someone stole my seat at the library and two other people have decided to sit in my area! Go sit somewhere else! And dude, close your freaking legs!
Yes, children, today is definitely a Monday! I figured I would say a few things while I was waiting for the apartment people, who are already at least 30 minutes late, to show up and check out my apartment.
It's got to be the day, the weather and the mini move that has really killed my patience. Right before I spilled hot water on myself, I glared at anyone who tried to talk to me! Maybe I should wear a sign that says, "Please don't talk to me until AFTER I get some caffeine in my system!" Still, I don't think it would work....people would ask why, like a 3 year old until you give them an answer that would satisfy their curiosity.
I found out that my youngest uncle is getting married at the end of the month....which is kind of exciting!
What is stopping me from taking the rest of the afternoon off and sleeping?
I really do think my apartment complex forgot about this appointment.
Am I selfish for not wanting to share my birthday celebration with other family members?
Speaking of birthdays, what should I do for it this year?
Since I got back from my trip, I have been thinking about everything that I posted while I was on vacation and how negative a lot of it was. Please know that my time in Puerto Rico was anything but negative. If anything, my time there was definitely eye opening.
It made me realize how truly blessed I am to be able to even take a trip like that. At a time when most people, young and old, are trying to make ends meet, I was able to take time off and stay in a beach house for nearly a week there. A few of us were out the first or second day we were there and met a local man while he was walking by and during the conversation, he pointed to the house that we were staying in and said that's where the rich people stayed. This man didn't know that we were staying there and we didn't tell him, but it really made us feel good.
Coming from Michigan, one would say that Puerto Rico is a very poor "country", but I would have to disagree. Yes, their buildings may not tall and glorious looking like the ones found here, but they seem to be way more sturdier than many of the ones that are found here. I found that Puerto Ricans have so much pride in their small country and more often than not, this made up for everything else.
Coming from a place where we are in such a hurry to get place to place, I feel like sometimes we don't really enjoy the trip or destination. There, though, they drive like crazy people, but once they get to their destination, they seem to relax and enjoy themselves.
There, if you don't speak the language, then you are S.O.L.! Every time we asked if the person helping us spoke English, the person would laugh at us, turn to the person standing next to them and speak in Spanish and turn back to us to say that they would find someone to help. This experience definitely humbled me. When you think about it, we do the same thing. We talk down to the non-English speaker when we really shouldn't.
Another thing that amazed me was that this country would rather build on top of other existing non historical buildings instead of cutting down a ton of trees. Everywhere were went weren't buildings, like we see here. Some would argue that that just can't be done here, but I would have to disagree. Unused buildings could be reused or torn down to be used for something else. That's just my opinion!
Do you remember the mom and pop stores that used to be around? They are still around there! Wal-Mart has not been allowed to take over and I commend Puerto Rico for that. To me, those small stores add something that these huge superstores can't.
Could we learn from this tiny territory? Yeah, they have everything that we do, but the way of life is a little different, slower. Well, as long as they aren't driving! Could that simplistic lifestyle be what we really need in our society where our status is determined on what we have, rather than who we are? Maybe.... Yes, there were a lot of "Did that really just happen?" moments on that trip, but I have to say that I would definitely go back.
Today, I asked one of my kids (interns, but they call me Mama Tiff), Meg, if she wanted to leave a little early instead of starting a project that I asked her to work on. MOST people would have said heck yeah without hesitation. Instead, she decided to stay until five. She goes on to say, "I don't have much going on tonight. My night consists of pizza and Shark Week!" Wow...she is a total nerd! ;o)
Today I got a text message from a friend of mine that said, "Happy Friendship Day!" and it made me really think about the people that I call friends. Let me just say that I give this title to a select few and often times consider them family. Other than relatives, they are the only people that know the real me and sometimes, it blows me away to know that they stick around! Elbert Hubard once said, "Your friend is the person who knows all about you, and still likes you."
Eleanor Roosevelt also said, "Some people come into our lives and quickly go. So stay for awhile and leave footprints on our hearts. And we are never, ever the same." She couldn't have been more right.
I used to wonder what this meant and have come to understand that not all people are meant to stick around. They are sometimes brought in our lives for a particular purpose and when their purpose has been fulfilled, both of you move on. Everyone has dealt with this and I feel like this is not a lose, but a blessing. You are better for meeting them.
I guess what I am saying is that no matter how much your friends drive you crazy with their nonsense and drama, (assuming they are real) at the end of the day, they will have your back and you have theirs. That alone is a blessing and I really hope that no one takes that for granted!
I sat down with my boss, Jim, and Amy to discuss some work related stuff and somehow the conversation switched to how he thought that he thought I would do well in the criminal justice field, something that I have thought of many times. Then he says that loves the shows, Bones and NCIS! I was even more amused when he started naming his favorite characters. I knew there was a reason why I liked him! It totally made my day! :o)
This past Saturday, I was bored out of my mind so I thought it would be a good idea to go see a movie. Since I had just missed the showing for Despicable Me, I decided to go see Eclipse to see if it was really as good as people said. A part of me knew that this was the last movie I should have been seeing, but come on! I was bored!
The movie started out with Edward asking Bella to marry him....um, seriously? You, or should I say, she is not even 18 years old in the movie! Don't you think that you are moving just a tad bit too fast? Again, maybe that's just me.
I have to say for a supposed chief of police, Bella's dad, Charlie, was not very bright! Yeah, he put her on punishment and gave her a curfew of 4 pm so that she wouldn't see Edward, but she still saw him. Don't even get me started on the fact that the guy spends the night! Come on, Charlie!! But whatever.
What I still don't get is why Bella, the moron, thought it would be a good idea to fall for a vampire that could kill her!? Am I the only one noticing that she is the reason for most of the drama in these movies?! I can't be. She has done some crazy things in all three of the movies. Most of the trouble that goes on is because of her! In the first one, James comes after her and the Cullens have to kill him before he kills her. The second one, after trying to kill herself, Edward decided that life wasn't worth living. Good going! In this one, the psycho girl vampire comes back to kill Bella, creating an army to kill off the Cullens. Need I say more?!
I have to say, Jacob is so cute, but there were a ton of times when I almost screamed "What the hell are you thinking?!" at the screen. Fortunately, I thought of the other people in the theater and controlled my outbursts. Seriously though, I understand that he loved her and all, but come on, guy, Bella has made it pretty clear that she only loves you as a friend. I did laugh out loud when Bella tried to punch him in the face and sprained her hand. I couldn't breathe for minute! The fights between Jacob the desperate and Edward, who looked extremely constipated throughout, got a little old. There was no reason for them to be fighting over that girl when all she does is cause trouble! Again, that's just my opinion!
The most ridiculous part of the movie was the tent scene. I mean really?! Girlfriend knew that she would be camping for real, so why in the world did she not pack more clothes!? Idiot move to me. I mean, did she really think that Edward would be able to keep her warm? Uh no! He is only good for watching while she sleeps. And Jacob....really?! I mean he was useful, but don't push the vampire. And I know that he is a wolf, but doesn't this guy own a t-shirt? To each his own, I guess, but oh my gosh!
Now, I'm sure some of you are wondering why in the world did I go see this movie if I knew that I would laugh so hard. I saw it because I knew it would make me laugh. I mean, think about it: A dumb girl who is in love with a vampire and a wolf and has to choose between them, is the reason why a vampire army is started and has a serious death wish. How could anyone not find that funny? And don't even get me started on the fact that Dakota Fanning was in the movie with her red contacts in!
So if you are bored in the coming weeks and want to see a vampire "comedy", please see go see this movie. If I were to rate this out of 10, I would give it a 6 only because it made me laugh and reminded me of all the dumb people in the world!
Ps. I do apologize to any Twillight fans who were offended by this posting.
A little while ago, I was watching a clip of Emily Deschanel and David Boreanaz of Bones in an interview for the upcoming season. The young man who was interviewing them asked if this would be the season that they would finally get together and there was no definite answer between the two. She said that last year during Comic Con, the audience was asked if they thought that Booth and Brennan should get together. There were a lot of people who said yeah, but she said there were a ton more that said no. She said that maybe it isn't meant for them to get together, but she would like to see them together. David chimed in and asked, "Who said they weren't already together?" Good point!
I personally would love to see them together, but at the same time, I think that could possibly ruin the show. Although, I will say that I am slightly, okay extremely, irritated that Booth will be bringing someone back from Afghanistan. Brennan needs to get her act together and figure what she wants.
In real life, it sounds like David B. is the moron that needs to get his act together! First he is gets caught cheating and now he is facing sexual harassment charges...SERIOUSLY?! I guess I have never quite understood why famous people think they do whatever they want and get away with it. Sorry, guy, but you should be held accountable for your actions like everyone else. As long as it doesn't hurt Bones!
Oh Continental, you and I need to have a chat! For the second time during this trip, you have found a way to stop me from getting to where I need to be. A 3+ hour delay from Houston to San Juan was a serious pain and caused us to lose a rental car, but completely canceling our flight for a storm that didn't really happen?! Come on!!!! Oh and the fact that you acted like you were doing us a favor when you put us on another flight that didn't leave until tomorrow morning and "couldn't" put us up in a hotel because it was weather related. Okay, there is something sooooo wrong with this picture!
So, let me just say this now: unless it's my only option, I will NOT be using Continental Airlines! It was a total disappointment and made me love Delta Airlines even more.
I really thought that I would be able to post more often than I have, but the internet in house that we are staying in hasn’t been working! Honestly, the woman who we rented this house ought to be slapped in the face by every person in this house and then she needs to rewrite the description for the house. Hell, I’ll rewrite the description for her! Here it is:
Beautifully structured house on the beach. The inside isn’t bad looking either, but that’s about it. The toilet leaks, EVERYTHING is damp 24/7 and the bottom of your feet will be dirty from the moment you turn the shower off until the time you get back in. The windows don’t shut all the way in most of the rooms in the house and one of the bedrooms is a rainforest with exotic bugs living in there. Please don’t count on the air conditioning to work all of the time. The kitchen may or may not have a light in there…I seemed to have forgotten if there is a light switch in there. Let me know if you find it! On the plus side, the view of the beach is absolutely breathtaking! It doesn’t matter the time of day with three balconies to enjoy the view. You may even catch a worker or two taking a bath in the ocean while you are eating your breakfast!
Please know that I have not exaggerated one bit! Okay, I will leave the owner alone, but not until I say this one last thing: If you are renting your house out, please CLEAN IT! Your tenants don’t need to find bloodstains on their bed.
Moving on…
After realizing that there wasn’t much going on in Hatillo on Saturday, we wandered over to Old San Juan, which is about an hour east. We made it in time to do a little bit of shopping before the shops closed and make a note to self to come back and see some of the historical spots. We decided to have dinner here and try a popular dish out here called mofongo, which is mashed plantains with almost any kind of meat that you could want covered with a garlic sauce. So we checked out this restaurant call Lupis and I swear every person we asked swore that the mofongo was great here. Let me just tell you now: THEY LIED! I ordered mine with chicken and it wasn’t too bad. My sister and her mini me said the grouper and shrimp one was as close to good as this place could get. $150 later, all seven of us walked out feeling almost disappointed. Maybe that was our fault. Maybe we should have stuck to the small roadside carts or shops for these kinds of dishes. Or maybe we shouldn’t have trusted the word of a kid who was allergic to half of the menu. Again, maybe it’s just me!
Sunday, we attempted to find the Rio Camuy Caves, which turned out to be 20 minutes away from us, but were turned away because the tours had ended for the day. We were told to come back on Monday so we went home to relax and plan the next day. While the rest of the family played in the water, I went back to reading the latest Jeffrey Deaver book, The Burning Wire, which is pretty much brilliant. Later, Jay and I took the giggling duo to Subway to grab dinner for the family and can I just say that it is almost amusing to see the look on people’s faces when we say that we need seven sandwiches?! I will say that this girl handled herself extremely well, especially since English wasn’t her first language and she was running the store alone!
Monday seemed to go a little better mainly because we had the day planned out. We got up and went to the caves, which were amazing! As city folks, I don’t think we really take the time to check out the natural wonders around us. The cave that we toured was huge and other than the walkway, was completely untouched by man. I think since I was so awestruck, the idea that there were bats, no matter how harmless they were, were flying around over my head didn’t faze me. On our way back, we stopped at this restaurant that one of the guys from the caves told us about and tried the mofongo again and it was WAAYYYYYY better!
Pork Mofongo
Also, another thing that we noticed is that that people in the smaller towns were a lot nicer and had a bit more patience for us ignorant English speakers. (How dare we come to Puerto Rico and not speak Spanish?!) A couple in there came over and chatted with us and told us about different places to visit while we were here before helping the kid take our orders. This alone slightly changed our, well my, view of the people here. I think Mom said it the best. Here people aren’t judged by their skin color like they are in the U.S., but by whether or not they can speak the language. I can’t even tell you how many times we have been laughed at when we say that we don’t speak a lot of Spanish.
Anyways, on our way back to the house, we passed a stand that sold pig roasted on a spit and Jay practically made Mom turn the car around. While he, Tim, Jazmone and Hillary were waiting for the guy to cut off portions of the pig off, a car pulled up next to us and a couple got out and started talking to Mom and Dad while we were in the car! Again, the people in the smaller towns are definitely friendlier than in the larger cities! They stood there for a while just talking and when they finally left, we couldn’t believe how friendly they were.
Instead of staying home we decided to head to Condado Beach and drop off the four younger ones while Mom, Dad and I went to San Cristobal in San Juan…at least that was the plan. The closer we got toward the area, the harder it rained. Instead, Mom and Dad walked around while the rest of us sat in the car. Hillary was the only one awake and was looking around when the guy in the car next to us got out and started jacking off! Hillary started waking the rest of us up and that is what we saw right before he sat down and whipped it out! Before things got ridiculously out of hand, Jay got up out of his seat and scared the guy off. Right around the time Mom and Dad came back, the guy did too. SERIOUSLY though?! I will never understand why people do the things that they do and maybe it’s not meant for me to and I can accept that!
San Cristobol was amazing! It was an old fort built and rebuilt over the past several hundred years to defend San Juan, which was considered the gateway to Caribbean. Whomever controlled Puerto Rico controlled most of the trade in this area. This fort was definitely ahead of its time and the fact that it’s still standing is…wow! From the top of this fort were amazing views of Old San Juan and the port.
Views of Old San Juan
Tomorrow, the plan is to check out the rain forest...eeks! That should be interesting!
So the past 48 hours didn't go as well as we had planned. The first leg of the flight went perfectly....we arrived in Houston on time and everything! That's when everything went to hell!
Our flight was delayed...FOUR TIMES!!!!
We lost our rental car due to the flight delays...the car rental place closed at midnight and we got to San Juan at 12:20 am!
We were originally scheduled to arrive in San Juan at 9:22...need I say more?!
After the woman, whose house we are renting, dropped off our keys at the airport, we managed to find a taxi sometime after 1:30
An hour and $100 later, in the middle of an insane thunderstorm, we arrived at our rental house and can I say that I don't think anyone was really impressed!
There were bloodstains on my sheets, so I slept on top of all my blankets and somehow fell asleep in a storm that lasted until 10 something this morning!
Still without a car and in between thunderstorms, Mom and I ran to Wal-Greens for water and stuff while Jay and Hill went to Quiznos for breakfast/lunch. Let's just say that we didn't make it a block from the house before it started pouring!
When we all went to take a shower, there were no wash clothes and one bar of soap for seven people to share!!
While Hillary, Tim, Jay, and Jazmone were out playing in the water, Hillary slipped and fell on some coral!
All within 24 hours!
The way I see it, things will get better! Time to enjoy my vacation!!
The fam and I have been sitting at the Houston- Bush International Airport since 1:30 this afternoon and our flight has been delayed 4 times. Is it because of the airport we're at or the airline?
Either way, I don't know how much longer I can look at this sign!
