More pictures from Cedar Point

We survived!!!
Me, Mike, Tyler and Jen

Excited after riding the Millennium Force

View from our resort

Behind our resort

Ride Warriors

This past weekend Mike and I, his parents, and his sister and her fiance went to Cedar Point. The weather was absolutely perfect, not too hot and not too cold. We took a ton of pictures, but most of them are of the two of us, so I won't bore you with all of those. I did select a few pictures that I think pretty much give a good summary of our trip to share.

We went on a lot of rides. We rode Millennium Force which was a lot more fun than I remembered from last year. We discovered that I tend to psych myself up too much and I get all scared for a ride and then after we go on it, it ends up that it wasn't near as bad as I had made it out to be. We also went on the Skyhawk, which was scary because you end up parallel to the ground and it feels like you're going straight into the ground and then suddenly it swings you back up. We really liked Magnum XL-200 but we weren't thrilled about Maverick. It was really rough and jerky and most of us had headaches after the ride. Wicked Twister used to be my favorite ride and it's still quite high on my list, but I think Top Trill Dragster has won the top spot now! Saturday afternoon, Mike and I and Jen and Tyler also went to the water park, Soak City, and we rode all of the tube rides. Our favorite was Zoom Flume because all 4 of us could go in together.


We went to the Snoopy's Big Bow Wow on ice. It was really neat to watch. The skaters were amazing!

These are two of the main skaters, they did lots of neat tricks like this. At one point he swung her around by her feet and her head came about 2 inches from the ice! Now that takes skill!

This is the restaurant beside our resort; we stayed at the Sandcastle Suites. We ate dinner here.

Wicked Twister is one of my favorite rides at the park. Mike convinced me to ride in the front car with him. I was a little nervous, as this was my first time sitting in the front, but it was really neat! I would definitely do it again!


This was the highlight of Mike's day. I didn't know that I would be riding in the front car so soon after Wicked Twister, but we went straight to Top Thrill Dragster. We had an hour wait (which was our longest wait the whole time at the park) and even that is not too long for a ride. Mike asked me to ride in the front car with him, and only because I love him so much, I agreed. It ended up being absolutely amazing, and we both agreed that the front car is the best way to enjoy Top Thrill!

I have a lot more pictures, so maybe later I will do a post of just pictures that we took on our trip!

Job update

I've been in training at my new job last week and this past week. There is so much to learn! I have had to learn all the computer tasks that we do, where files are stored, how to schedule appointments for the various counselors, answer the phone, take payments from clients and set up new clients. There is so much that I have arelady learned, sometimes it seems overwhelming! But there is still so much more that I still have to learn! My boss and I are planning to completely "re-vamp" how the office is run. It used to be quite disorganized, but we are determined to change that! So it will probably take us at least a month before we get the office to where we want it to be. Then it will still probably be a few months before I will know most of what I need to, it's quite a learning process! Monday will be my first day on my own...I'll let you know how it goes!!!

Makeover Monday

I am sure you have all seen or heard of a product and thought, "that's too good to be true". I had that when I saw this product for the first time in our Avon preview catalog. This Skin So Soft Fresh & Smooth Hair Minimizing Roll-On Anti-Perspirant Deodorant (long name, huh?) claims that its "Unique deodorant formula helps minimize the appearance of hair in just 2 weeks!" Since it costs just over a dollar, I figured it wouldn't hurt to try it out.
Now, I'm not a person who hates shaving or anything, I figure it's a fact of life and beauty, but if this would help minimize the appearance of underarm stubble, especially in tank-top-wearing season, I thought it definitely deserved a shot. I started using it about a week and a half ago, and I can honestly say I can tell a difference! I put it when I get out of the shower and then I do put on my regular deoderant. I think my hair is growing back less noticibly, and it looks like less hair than normal is growing. I will probably continue to shave every day, but this deoderant has definitely helped as I don't notice as much growth by the end of the day. It's a keeper!!!

To purchase this, or any other AVON product, please go here.

New Job!

I graduated from college in May and for the past 4 months I have been applying for jobs. Now-a-days most job applications are filed online, meaning that if you're lucky the potential employer will get your application. I had 2 interviews in June, but nothing came out of it. So I continued applying all over. I would estimate that I would apply at 1-3 places each day. And applying and applying. Of course, Michigan has a super high unemployment rate and more people are being laid off each week, so there are not too many jobs available right now. I thought I would have a slight advantage, being a recent graduate and all. However I found that can be both a blessing and a curse. It's a nice thing because I have all this knowledge built up in my head right now...however, because I went to college straight after high school that means I do not have any work experience in my field. That in itself can be a good or bad thing as well. Bad because I would have to be completely trained, but good because I can be trained exactly how the employer wants, without me having a set way of doing things. In early July, Mike's mom asked me if I would be interested in putting my name in for a job as an office assistant at a counseling office. Her friend works there and knew there was a chance a position would be opening up soon. I said of course I would be interested, but after a while I hadn't heard anything and I didn't really think much of it again. Well, just over a week ago, Mike's mom's friend emailed me and asked if I was still interested in this job. Definitely!!! It happened quite quickly, I had an interview on Tuesday and another on Wednesday. I thought they went quite well. Yesterday afternoon I got a phone call saying that I had gotten the job!!! I will be working part-time at the office, so I will be able to keep my job at the nursing home as well. I am looking forward to this job. There is a lot to learn and I have been told that it is extremely fast paced and I will be very busy each day. But it will be great to get the experience and be working a lot more than I have recently!

A Night Out

When Mike does something, he does it well. In this case, he told me earlier in the week that we were going out for dinner on Saturday night, but he didn't tell me where. So Saturday before I headed out to his house, he told me to wear something dressy. I had just bought a dress at a garage sale, so I decided on that. I got to his house and shortly after, we left for the restaurant. He took me to Boatwerks and because the weather was so nice he planned for us to get there early enough to get a seat outside on the patio. We sat about as close to the water as you can get and enjoyed the view of the lake and watching the boats on the water. We both decided to branch out from our normal burgers that we usually order at restaurants. Mike ordered the Grilled BBQ Pork Chop and I got Chicken Oscar. I was surprised at the combination of flavors in my meal (Chicken, Crab meat, Asparagus, and Pasta), but it was very good! Our waitress was nice enough to take our picture and suggested that we go down by the water for it. After our meal, we went on a nice little drive. Mike had worked at some houses on South Shore Drive and he wanted me to see some of them. We were able to go up on a private drive, there were some absolutely beautiful houses there! After our drive, we headed back to his house and watched a movie. It was a great night out!

Half-way point!

I am officially half-way through my 30 day work-out! A few weeks ago, I started Jillian Michael's 30 Day Shred work-out video. I have been working out 5 days a week (I take the weekends off, as you're allowed 2 days to rest each week). And today marks my half-way point! I feel really good, as it's been a while since I've worked out like this. Usually I do my work-out first thing in the morning. I like that because I feel like I have so much energy to get through the rest of the day! I have found that this work-out is quite challenging but I do enjoy doing it! There are 3 levels of the workout, each one getting progressively harder. I made it my goal to do each workout for 10 days, and then move to the next level. So right now, I'm on level 2. I am starting to see results of the work-out. I can feel that my legs and abs are more defined, and I have lost about 1/2 an inch from my thighs, hips, and stomach. My ultimate goal is to lose about 10 pounds from this work-out, and I haven't weighed myself yet, so I don't know how close I am. It has been quite a challenge for me to stick with this program and do it each day, but so far I am doing well and feeling good about myself!

A sweet surprise

What is this?

There's a brand new candy store not too far from Mike's house. I had mentioned to him that I read an article in the Advance about the new store and I thought it would be interesting to see what types of candies they have there. The other day, he got out of work a bit early and decided to pop in the store before we hung out. The first (well, after giving me a hug) thing he did was hand me this huge piece of chocolate. "What is it?" I asked. "Try it and find out" he replied grinning. I got to admit, I was a little hesitant, seeing as how he was grinning and refused to tell me what I was about to eat. So, I took a bite and ooo yummy! The inside just melted in my mouth. So, did you figure out what it is yet? Chocolate covered sea foam!!! This is definitely high on my list of favorite "gourmet" candies. He also bought a bunch of malted milk balls and some Sour Warheads so we could relive our childhood!

4th of July!

What a day! Mike and I went with some friends to go tubing. We went up to Newago, got our tubes, and set out down the river. It was about a 3.5 hour trip from beginning to end, and we had a blast! On the way home we stopped at KFC for a no-clean-up meal and then off to fireworks! Mike's mom knew about a man in Overeisel who puts on an amazing fireworks show each year. I've seen a lot of shows and I would say this is one of the top 2 I have ever been to (the only better one was at Disney, so it better be good!). It was non-stop fireworks for an hour! It was kind of funny because after about 30 minutes, they set off a bunch of fireworks at once, and a lot of people thought that it was the grand finale...this happened probably 4 or 5 times! There were so many beautiful fireworks!

This is the actual "grand finale"...some of my favorite fireworks were the ones going off about 40 seconds into the video, non stop BOOM BOOM BOOM! (I tried to upload a movie of the fireworks, but after uploading for 8 hours, it still wasn't done...I'll try again tomorrow!)

The Big 5-0!!!

Last Tuesday was my Dad's 50th birthday! Mike and I fixed a steak and potato dinner and a birthday cake.

We decided to get Dad a new grill for his birthday. He wasn't expecting it at all, and you can see the surprise on his face!
Of course, the guys had to open it up and check out the goods! Happy 50th birthday Dad!