civilization.

i'm back! what a week and a half without the internet will do to you...

at least i had my phone for gps...

so we are all moved out of our old apartment and moved into our new one! much thanks goes out to christopher's aunt ann and cousin craig. these two helped us load up a 17' truck. apparently, we have a lot of stuff. we also had a third story apartment with three flights of stairs. not a lot of fun. when we thought things were going great, and we were making good timing, ann and christopher were putting the last of the things into the truck when ann fell of the back of the u-haul! she broke her hip and was sent to the hospital for the next four days. honestly, she was an amazing trooper. christopher didn't even notice that she fell because she didn't even make a noise. however, craig saw it unfold. we couldn't possibly have had better help and family that day. to drive four hours to help us pack up and then have to go to the hospital all on our account? i just felt terrible.

ann convinced us to go ahead to northville to unpack while craig and ann went to the hospital. she's such a sweetheart. honestly. so christopher's supervisor had told us in advance that he'd come help us that day. when he heard of ann's unfortunate accident, he called up the help of another guy from their workplace, his amazingly strong wife and their cute either 3 or 5 year old daughter (christopher thinks 5, i think 3. we can't decide). she was helping us bring the smallest of boxes up the stairs and helped me push large tubs from the back of the truck to the front for the big guys to carry. :)

so for the past week and a half, i've been unpacking. alone. so really, if you're bored, don't hesitate to call. i'll be here. unpacking. it's the story of my life.

but my wonderful hubs surprised me with internet to the tv yesterday morning... so now i have netflicks! yay for civilization!

tune in for pictures to come.

happy tuesday.

a family of four.

we have a very special announcement to make....

we have another puppy!

meet connor.



connor is a 7 month toy poodle. he's scared of everything imaginable, eats like we never feed him, gets into trouble every half hour, runs into walls, and most importantly, he's a lover of my legs. that's right. he loves my legs. when i'm cooking, he has to either sit on my foot or lay behind my feet. when i'm sitting, he needs to be in my lap. when i'm walking, he shoves his nose into my calves every single step of the way. that's just downright crazy. why today, he even started gnawing on my toes like they were his chew toys! either i have some pretty stinky feet or this dog is just straight up insane.

this is all i have of him so far... but just you wait. this superstar will rock my blog just as much as he's rocked our world.



o and please excuse the mess... trust me, it's far worse now that i'm in prime packing mode.

far from the home i love.

i know many of my readers are from kansas, where i was born and raised, but i don't think many of them know how much michigan is similar to kansas. well, at least from my experience thus far.

i woke up this morning to find the parking lot wet. cold, dreary, gloomy wetness outside my window. just a couple of hours later, bright sunshine comes through and the pavement is almost completely dry. now, it's just downright cloudy.

so there you have it. weather has pms wherever you go.

what is a post without pictures? here are some of the plants i'm trying really hard to keep alive. i don't know how long that will last. also, the apartment we're moving to faces the north, so we'll see if i can get any direct sunlight on these bad boys.





now it's back to the packing! happy friday all!

hump day ramblings.

in the midst of unpacking this apartment, looking for a job, finding christopher a job, looking for a another apartment, and packing this apartment all up again, i just haven't taken many pictures. it's really sad.

but i do have a bunch of randoms for you!

i forgot to mention in the chicago auto show post that i rented a nikon 24mm 1.4 lens just to see how good it was. besides for the fact that the lens was not calibrated to my camera, so back focusing occurred, it was a beauty. i did some test shots first off.

mmm... m&m...





our beautiful new Sacred Heart of Jesus and Mary pictures carved out of wood. i got that rosary in italy. each bead has the an image of the Immaculate Virgin Mary on it.

**update: christopher said it's not wood... how sad!!!! it's mass produced... so it's made out of plaster. depressing.



i couldn't resist taking a photo of him. he just looks too good to not.



i miss that lens. i can't wait until i save up enough money to buy more lenses! for now, it's just back to my regular lenses.

here's a picture of a very lovely lady by the name of linda. she owns a shop called fenton flowers and gifts. i went in there one day to try to spread the word of my photography services, and she was so kind and helpful! she's really the only person in fenton that cared enough to talk to us. it's so sad that we have to move away.



i found this picture just chilling in my photo archives. i'll miss our balcony view. so beautiful! i can't wait for summer!



and lastly, i have a couple of cuties sleeping. this first one is a picture of my cousin's baby, audrina, taken this past thanksgiving break. the second one is of christopher and macy taking a nap during my finals week down in manhattan, ks. o the beauty of little sleepies.





i hope these pictures brightened up your hump day! only a couple more days and it's the weekend!

the bright side.

i am probably the worst blogger you'll ever read from. i didn't even sit in front of my computer for almost two weeks!

so... good news and bad news!!!

the good news:

1. the weather is a lot warmer
2. i started planting flowers and herbs
3. i have been baking like nobody's business
4. christopher's sister and brother-in-law are moving from new york to south bend, indiana so they're closer to us :)
4. ...drumroll please... christopher got a job at roush industries!!!! yay!!!

the bad news:

1. we have to move. again.

call me a crazy roller coaster of emotions and a silly little girl, but i am so attached to this apartment right now, it's ridiculous! it's our first home after being married and we worked so hard to make it feel like home since michigan is so far from kansas and everyone we know. since we were out of jobs, we put our sweat into making this apartment our own. it's really nice and spacious with room for guests should they come visit, an awesome view off the balcony, and it's just down right peaceful.

ok, enough of the crying.

christopher found out thursday, april 14th about the new job, signed with them the following tuesday, and was supposed to have started this past monday, but his laptop hadn't come in, so they delayed the start date until this monday. originally, that gave us one week and three days to find an apartment before he started working. o the joys. his work is really close to metro detroit. for over a week, we drove to all parts of the detroit metro area. east, west, into the city... but definitely not down river. everything was so much more run down, i pretty much feared our lives before we even chose a place to live!

but just at the very last minute, and after 4 tanks of gas, we found a really nice town by accident and chanced upon just the most awesome apartment complex. the downside? we move from a 1300 sf 2 bed/2 bath apartment into an 820 sf 1 bed/1 bath apartment downsize!

i've gone through almost all we have and sorted through donateable items. umm no, that's not a word, but work with me here. i believe we've made 3 trips to goodwill with about 4-5 large plastic tubs full of clothes and miscellaneous items and a tube tv. yay for donating! :)

we're especially exciting about the move because that means we'll only be 3.5 hours away from our good friends alan and emily, who are expecting! i fully plan to visit them on the weekends. also, christopher's sister and brother-in-law will also be just 3.5 hours away. they'll be moving right after we move, so that means once we're done moving, we get to do it all over again! yay for moving all the time... and lastly, christopher's aunt, uncle and cousin live within 3.5 hours as well! yay for options!

so, the moral of the story... always look on the bright side of life.

now, without further ado... our apartment for the next two weeks... until we move. again.

so not to confuse you, here's our current layout:



the living room was just fabulous! so bright and open with lots of space to play with macy!







and the kitchen was excellent! it was a walkthrough with lots of cabinets. :) smiles. lots and lots of time in here!





and it looked into the dining room, which we used as a craft/tool room and a baking room! who wants to eat in an enclosed space when you can eat in front of an 8' sliding door?!







umm my other favorite part? the laundry room! yay for laziness and being able to do wash whenever!







the dreaded office... really, it almost never looked like this. imagine stacks of boxes, paper, random items thrown everywhere! with our desks fully of receipts, bills, homework, etc.



and check out my old bulletin board! isn't it adorable?! when we move, i'll make it into some sort of inspiration board. i can't wait.



here's the guest bathroom. this is where macy gets here bath, and both christopher and macy get their haircut.





and last but not least, the master bedroom. see that quilt? christopher's aunt ann was so kind enough to quilt that for us for our wedding. the amazing talents that christopher's mom's family has never ceases to amaze me.





o and just for fun, here's a close up of our closet. i know you probably won't believe me, but christopher has much more clothing out than i do. just sayin'!



thanks for touring our apartment! we'll be sure to get pictures up of our new place!

p.s. these pictures were originally meant to post our apartment on craigslist. actually in just a few moments, we'll be turning our lease (starting june 1) over to someone else! the family lives here on site and just wants to upgrade their apartment.