Help me out please!

For my English class, I have to give an instructional speech. It needs to be 3-6 minutes long, and basically I need to give instructions (verbally and using a visual aid) about a topic of my choice (excluding recipes, which of course would have been my first choice). Now here's where I have the problem...I don't know what to do! So I'm hoping someone will have a good idea for me!! Please leave a comment with your ideas...even if they are different or you don't think they're good...I need anything please! :)

Valentine's Day

This is a fun little Valentine's Day survey I found on Mari's blog. I know Valentine's Day isn't until Saturday, but you all know my schedule so I figured I would do this while I have a few spare minutes. So here's mine and if you want to do this, have fun!
♥ How long have you been together? 11 months tomorrow
♥ How long did you know each other before you started dating? 2 months
♥ Who asked who out? Mike asked me out
♥ How old are each of you? We're both 20, he's older by 1 month and 2 days
♥ Whose siblings do/ did you see the most? His sister
♥ Do you have any children together? No
♥ What about pets? No
♥ Did you go to the same school? The same college
♥ Are you from the same home town? No, we live about 25 minutes away from each other
♥ Who is the smartest? We both are smart about different things, I have book smarts, while Mike has street smarts
♥ Who is the most sensitive? I think I am
♥ Where do you eat out most as a couple? Probably McDonalds! It's the cheapest and easiest to grab lunch after class
♥ Where is the furthest you two have traveled together as a couple? Kentucky
♥ Who has the worst temper? I think we are both about the same
♥ Who does the cooking? I do, but Mike likes to help me in the kitchen
♥ Who is more social? Definitely Mike
♥Who is the neat freak? Neither of us are neat freaks
♥ Who is the more stubborn? Mike
♥ Where was your first date? Before we were technically dating, he took me out for lunch at Adobe. After we started dating...I think we went to Logan's or something. We didn't really go on a big "first date", I think I went to his house to do homework, and that was our first real hangout "date"
♥ Who has the bigger family? We both have 4 people in our family
♥ Do you get flowers often? He bought me daisies when we had been dating for 5 months
♥ How do you spend the holidays? We divide it up between our families
♥ How long did it take to get serious? Probably about 6 months
♥ Who eats more? Mike
♥ Who’s better with the computer? We are both good with the computer
♥ Who drives when you are together? It depends on where we're going, we usually take turns

Busy Busy Busy

I apologize for neglecting my blog lately...I haven't had much time to update it, and there hasn't been anything "newsworthy" to update about.

Basically, my life for the past month has been: School, homework, sleep, repeat (with work thrown in there a couple days). Crazy, I tell ya!

I am taking 5 courses this semester, 15 credits I believe. When I finish these courses at the end of April, I will have completed my two year Associate's of Business Administration.

On Monday nights, I am taking Computer Applications 2. It is not so difficult as it is frustrating. It's frustrating because the teacher feels the need to explain every little detail to you (thus wasting valuable work time, considering that what she is explaining is already written out in front of us). Second, the work load is insane. It is a 4 credit class, meaning 4 hours long. Starting at 5:45 and going until 10. During that time period, we are expected to complete 3 lessons, each consisting of between 1 and 4 drills and 5-7 actual activities. No errors are allowed (incredibly frustrating, especially considering the program we use exits constantly after we check our work, making us re-enter to fix our lesson). The class is not very difficult, but when I'm taking 4 other classes, the workload is a bit extreme. (Sorry for the little rant there!!!)

On Tuesdays and Thursdays, I am taking Personal Defense and English. I love my personal defense class. I have heard that I have the hardest professor for that, and I believe it. He pushes us to the limit, but he knows how far each of us can go, and pushes us to do our best. Each class begins with drills, ranging from running (and shuffling and karaoke), to crunches, to push ups, to pull ups. On Thursdays we do "bikini workouts", so we really work our abs! After our warm up drills, we actually move into the defense moves. We have learned the correct stances, how to grab and steer someone, pressure points, and we are just starting on 1-2 punches and kicks. This is definitely my favorite class this semester!! After my morning workout, I head to English. This is by far my most boring class. ;) English has always come easy for me, and I find the teaching style of my professor to be very lacking. She drones on for most of the hour as we fill out worksheets, and then we do in-class assignments for the rest of the time.

On Wednesday nights, I have Business Ethics. I really enjoy this class...my professor works for a large company and he has loads of real-life stories and ethical dilemmas to share with us. The class is a lot of discussion, my professor tells us about ethical cases in the news (like the peanut butter scare going on now) and we discuss how the company got to where they are and what they should do. I think I am learning a lot in this class.

Finally, I am also taking an online course, Starting A Business. This is especially nice, because I can work on it as I have time, all the assignments are due on Sunday, so I have a week to do all the assignments.

Monday, Wednesday, and Friday might seem like I shouldn't be so busy, but believe me...I am! The homework from all my classes takes up so much time now! Even when Mike and I get together, we spend the majority of our time working on homework. (It helps that we are taking Computers and Starting A Business together). I can't wait for this semester to be over and to be done with my degree! In the meantime, bear with me as I don't post as often as usual!

Matthew 25 in Real Life

In my ethics class the other night, my professor told us a story that both disturbed and challenged me.

My professor goes and gives speeches at church (I don't know about what). At one particular church he was at, he was sitting near the back. A homeless man walked in, dirty clothes, unshaven, probably hadn't bathed in days. Upon seeing this man, a member of the church escorted him out. He then stood by the door to "make sure he wanders away".

My teacher then asked us what we would have done. Just because this homeless man looks different, and smells bad, does that mean that he doesn't have the same right as we do to be in a warm building, offered a hot cup of coffee, and welcomed to the church?

I was reminded of the verses in Matthew 25, "When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.' Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?' "The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.' "Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.' "They also will answer, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?' "He will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.' "Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life."

Griffin's Game

On New Year's Eve, Mike and I went to the Griffins game. They played the Iowa Chops. It was a great game! (No fights though...) We had amazing seats...3 rows from the ice, right by the goal net. And...the Griffins won, 6-0!!!

Breaking in the new...

Today I got to use lots of my new kitchen gadgets...

I made these donuts...

I got to use my cool new measuring cups. The Pfaltzgraff store in Holland is going out of business, and Mike's mom knew I would love these measuring cups, so she got me a set. They're nice heavy stonewear, and I love the colors too!

Next, I got to use my new KitchenAid mixer that I got from Mike's parents for Christmas and my Birthday last month. I love being able to flip the switch and it goes on it's own...no more hand mixing for me!!

This morning I ran out to Target to get a couple things. I ended up only getting one of the things I went for...plus a couple things I found along the way. I was looking in the kitchen department and of course found the clearance section. I found a 5 piece Wilton bakeware set. It has a cake pan with a cover, a round baking pan, a cookie sheet (which is what I have needed for a while), and a cooling rack. All for $10!!! So I got to use the cooling rack also.

A Christmas Story

She walks up to the front door, arms laden with gifts. Upon reaching the door, she notices a note addressed to her, quickly she reads it before returning to her car for the remainder of her packages. Coming back to the house, she quickly removes the note from the door and reads it again with a grin on her face. "Follow these instructions EXACTLY! to recieve your gift. Instructions Where do you go to put your gifts? Once you get there find me and look inside." So off she went, into the living room to look by the Christmas tree. She was surprised when she did not see her loved one in there waiting for her. So she proceded on the the next part of the clue "find me"...she saw no gifts with his name on them...but suddenly she saw a mailbox with his name on it and upon looking inside, found her next clue. "Roses are red, violets are blue, you need to go where I first said I love you!" This was an easy one. She raced down the stairs to the basement couch, again expecting to find him there, but the room was empty. On the couch was a small black box. Her face lit up as she slowly opened it, all the time wondering where he was. Unbeknownst to her, he was carefully hidden, watching her every move. Her face broke out in a grin as she opened the box and pulled out a delicate diamond and sapphire ring. He came out from his hiding place, a grin on his face as well, and sat beside her on the couch as she placed the ring on her finger. "It's perfect," she said.
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And now my friends, I must tell you, that that is a true story, as experienced by me yesterday afternoon. Mike bought me this beautiful promise ring, which he gave me for Christmas last night!

My BEAUTIFUL ring!!!!

When we came upstairs, of course I had to show off my new ring! Then we went into the living room for more gifts. Mike's parents bought me a Kitchen Aid mixer for my Christmas and birthday present. I was so excited! I've wanted one of these for such a long time. I gave Mike a sweatshirt and a hat from American Eagle.








Mike opening his gift from me :)










After the immediate family gift exchange, we went to Mike's aunts house for his whole family get together. We had a delicious dinner: ham, cheesy potatoes, potatoes au gratin, vegetable cassarole, salad, rolls, and baked apples. After a while, the younger kids began to get impatient, so we moved into a big circle to open the presents. Mike's Grandma bought gifts for everyone. She got me a Santoku knife (which I've wanted for a long time) and an American Eagle gift certificate. It was so much fun to watch everyone open their presents. The youngest kids got a ton of presents, and they seemed to think that every gift was theirs, so a lot of us would let them help us open our gifts. There were so many presents!







Grant and Tori were climbing all over the huge pile of presents!









After the regular gifts, we played Bingo. This is a Christmas tradition for Mike's family. If you get a "bingo" you get to chose a gift from the pile. Again, there was a huge pile of gifts! It was almost overwhelming! The first package I opened up was men's socks, which happened to be Mike's size, so he got them. That worked out good because later he got a women's polo shirt that is my size! Between the two of us we got $5, Bath and Body Works Apple soap, a fleece blanket, body lotion (2 kinds), and fuzzy pink gloves. His Grandma also made all the women a bunch of yarn covered hangers, so I got a bunch of those as well.

This Christmas was different from any one before for a few reasons: I had to work the morning, my family is in Canada with my mom's family (we'll celebrate Christmas when they come home tomorrow), and I got to celebrate with Mike and his family. It was a great Christmas and I hope that you and your family were blessed as well!!!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas everyone!!

Trans-Siberian Orchestra Concert

Last night Mike and I went to the TSO concert at the Van Andel. It was by far the best concert I have ever gone to (and I've been to a lot of concerts). The music was amazing, and the light show was breath-taking. I loved every moment of the 2.5 hour concert!




The lights were amazing...they had fire behind the performers, and sometimes fire balls shot into the air!















The violinist (on the right) was my favorite perfomer of the night! She was absolutely amazing!











This is the whole stage...lights and all!















Amazing guitarist!













His voice gives me shivers!!

Christmas in Kentucky

On Friday, Alecia, Mike, and I set out on the road. First we drove to Chicago, where we dropped Alecia off at the airport. She is now in Romania for the next few weeks. Then Mike and I drove about 6 more hours to Ohio. On the way, Mike experienced the deliciousness of White Castle for the first time ;) We met up with my parents and brother and spent the night at my Aunt's house. Saturday morning, we drove another 3.5 hours down to Kentucky. We went to another aunt's house and hung out there for awhile. I wanted to show Mike around "our part of Kentucky" so we went in search of a coal mine. We couldn't find one at first and I ended up driving through 3 counties, up and down the twisty mountain roads. It was fun :) Then I realized I had stuff in my trunk that they needed to set up for the Christmas party so we brought that to the place where the party was. I got new directions and we went out again looking for the coal mine. Finally we found one, thought it wasn't the one I was looking for, but it was still neat to see. We headed back to my aunt's house and played with my cousins for a while. Then we headed back to the Senior Citizen's Center for the party. This was the first family Christmas party I've ever gone to. We got there about 4:30, party was supposed to start at 5:30, and already people were arriving! Mike and I stood off to the side and I tried to tell him who everyone was. In my family, that's quite a challenge. About 130 people came to the party. We ate and talked, and Santa came to visit the younger kids. Sunday morning, Mike and I left at 6 to head home. We arrived home about 4, with a few minutes to relax before I had to be at church to get ready for the dance. It was a busy weekend, but we had a great time!!!




This is an office building in Columbus, they had the indoor lights on to spell out HAPPY HOLIDAYS. It was really cool!














My cousin, Tracey, dressed as Santa and had a sack stuffed with toys for the kids.

Everyone crowded around to get gifts. The youngest got stuffed Curious Georges. The middle boys got cars from the movie Cars and the girls got princess dolls. The teenagers got money.