Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Today Adrienne and company hosted Thanksgiving for the family. It was the first time we had hosted and had so much fun planning and baking and cooking.

Greg's mom, Joan, offered to cook the turkey for us, just one less thing to worry about. So, at 8am Joan and Fred stopped by to drop of the 20 lb. dinosaur of a bird. Of course Boo was up and ready to visit with grandparents.
Setting up the dining room for all of us to eat around.

Aggie fans trying to teach Boo a little about football.

Our entertainment for the night. Adam is trying his best to teach Boo Billy Joel's 'Piano Man.'

Carving up the turkey.

Hungry people ready to eat. We made mashed potatoes that would make Faja proud, sweet potato casserole, green bean casserole, pistachio pudding, cranberry sauce (that only Erika ate :), stuffing, stuffing, and more stuffing, turkey, pecan pie, pumpkin pie and my personal favorite, pumpkin cupcakes.

Happy Turkey Day!

Thanksgiving aftermath!

Dedicated to Boo

The only pictures I have taken recently have been of Brenner Boo, so here's a post dedicated to the Booster.

Here's hangin out with mom and dada playing tennis. :)

This week we are getting ready to host Thanksgiving, decorations, cleaning and of course...the food :)

"Cough cough"

I have been so lucky to be spending some more time in Houston with my sister and her family. I have been working at an interior design firm helping out with designs, drawings and material selections. But in the evenings, we play with Brenner. Of course I have to include pictures of him.

Brenner's new favorite toy is my cell phone. He loves how it opens and closes and lights up. He even accidentally called AJ on speaker phone tonight.

Brenner and I have our own little game we play, he fake coughs and waits intently for me to cough back then smiles. The goofier and funnier I cough, the bigger his smile becomes.

This is part of an interior that the designer I am working with designed and put together. I thought it was an incredibly beautiful entry way and loved how it came together piece by piece.

This is another interior that I am helping with; we are adding original photographs of trains and train yards to this incredible train model collection.

Every day has been new and different and I have been busy every second! My sister and I are also preparing to host Thanksgiving and Brenner's first birthday party!

Recapping a Busy Week

I can only describe this week as crazy! At every moment of every day I had somewhere to be, something to do and someone to be with. I enjoyed every moment of it and now, taking a moment to think about the past 7 days, I think I accomplished quite a bit.

The week began with a big project...painting AJ's parents' basement! The walls are a fake wood paneling and it was time for a change. After thoroughly scrubbing the walls clean, applying two coats of primer, it was finally time to pick out some colors.
After pulling over 50 paint samples from Home Depot, I couldn't chose just one color. So I picked five! Only two of the walls are striped while the rest are a nice light white. The project took over three days, incredibly sore hands, and a coating of paint on myself before it was finished. We still have to do some final touches and furniture moving, then we'll have some great finished photos.

On Wednesday and Thursday, I participated in a Holiday Boutique at Grosse Ile Golf and Country Club. The boutique was hosted by one of my old roommates/teammates and it was so nice seeing her again. I did pretty well for myself the first night but bad timing with bridge closures kept a lot of people from coming on the second day. Although there were only 18 craftors/vendors, the show had quite a variety of things. Painted wine glasses, clothing, candles, cupcakes, and floral arrangements were just a few of the items there.

I was so excited when my Aunt Rose, Uncle Joe and their two kids surprised me at my grandparents house on Thursday night.

We enjoyed a delicious dinner, searched for secret treasure, and ate lots of cookies! I got to hear all about Katie starting school, how big their new puppy is getting and even a little of Joey's singing!

On Friday and Saturday, I headed to Livonia to watch my cousin Nikki swim in the Catholic League Championships. Despite being so close, I had never had the chance to watch her swim before and I couldn't wait to see her kick some ass :)

And kick some ass she did! Not only did she win every race she was in, she broke two league records simultaneously breaking the pool records as well! The record she broke in the 100 fly was 29 years old! Here she is getting her first place medal from her Mercy coach.

Nikki with a winning relay! Mercy ended up winning almost every event and the meet as well. Next they will end their season with the State Championships in a couple of weeks. They certainly have the most supportive and crazy parents in the stands complete with their own cheers, t-shirts, and poster boards.

I can't believe the week is already over! I love being busy and having lots to do, but I am certainly enjoying the vedge day I am having right now! Next, I head to Houston to visit with my sister and her family and work a little at an interior design firm!

WSU CC @ Kenosha

This weekend mom, dad and I headed to Kenosha, WI to watch Travis and WSU's men's cross country team run at the NCAA Regional Championships. It was quite a long drive and since we were staying a night in Kenosha, we dropped the dogs off at grandma and grandpa's farm.

The dogs were restless, constantly hopping from the backseat to the front and back again. Here, Mac is sitting on the two center arm rests in between mom and dad watching the road.
Passing by Chicago!

Once we finally arrived in Kenosha, we treated ourselves to an incredibly delicious meal at a German/American restaurant called House of Gerhard's. We shared a Bavarian Roast, an Oscar Schnitzel and the house appetizers among the three of us. After my first bite, I was in heaven. The food was delicious and we cleaned all of the plates!

The men ran at 11am at the University of Wisconsin Parkside. The course was intense. After a short start, the men were up a hill and hiding behind the first hill was a second hill! They had to circle around and climb the hills one more time during the 10k race.

Mom sneaked a shot of the team stretching just before the start of the race.

About a half a mile after the start, the team ran by us and I couldn't believe the shot I got of all of them! We were able to see the team 4 more times after the start including the incredible finish.

WSU butts.

Travis finished second on his team and 29th overall with a time of 34.16.1

Getting some love!

More love!

We are so proud of him!!! I have been so blessed to be able to go to so many meets this year!!! Great job bud!!!

Big Surprises and Big Fun

Tuesday night, mom and I headed out to see "Amelia," the movie about Amelia Earhart. It was excellent and I wouldn't be surprised it recieves several Academy Awards/nomination. On our way home, I was so scrunched up into a ball in the car, I didn't even notice AJ's car in the driveway and was excitedly overjoyed to see him sitting at the table having a beer with dad. We spent the evening looking through photos of our trip so we can put together a book of our three months in Europe.

At the new Howell High School, Showcase Entertainement is filming a new tween show called "The Wannabes." A Radio Disney teen group from Texas, Savvy, is starring as the lead roles in the show. Through some good luck and a few emails, I made my way onto the Extras List and on Wednesday I had my first day of work. I was a background extra for their new music video, "Let's Go."

The premise of the show is that 6 strangers meet at a Performing Arts Boarding School. They all have dreams of becoming popstars and think that they are going to learn everything they need to know to become popstars at the school. Well, they are wrong. Instead, they are taught the traditional performing arts, including ballet. The six unite in their quest and form a pop group called The Wannabes and perform in secret around town.

Since we weren't allowed to take any photographes of the set, here is just a little proof that I was there. Cindy was another extra who I got to dance next to for almost 5 hours! We don't know when the video will be released, but I am excited to see it and hopefully see myself in the background.

All around the school, sets are set up for the show. The cafeteria has banners and lunch menu signs, different classrooms are already arranged and There were about 50 extras from all over the state of Michigan. Click here for a sneak peak of Savvy as The Wannabes.