Doo doo doo doo doo doo Just Dance!

Mariah's dance recital was last night - and it was all kinds of awesome. You see, not only does Mariah dance, but so does her dad - our good friend Anthony! So while Mariah busted a move in her hip hop class dance to "Four Minutes" by JT and Madonna, Anthony busted out some mad tap skills in two different dances. Made me want to drag my tap shoes out of the back of my closet...

We rounded out the evening with a little Roehm-Family fun at Applebees. A fun night!

I'm Back!

I know... it's been awhile!

Hopefully this will be my last blog-absence for a good long while since I'm all wrapped up with the dance recital, and all things YMCA! I'm enjoying my first week as a single-job woman and appreciating the time at home in the evenings to do... well... whatever I want!

That's not to say that work isn't demanding right now. Our annual fundraiser is coming up next week already, so I'm busy busy busy with all of the logistics for that event. I love special event planning though - both personally and professionally - so I'm having a good time with it and trying to keep the stress at a minimum.

Okay, I need to catch you up on everything that's going on around here... where to start? The backyard of course! Since it's been awhile, let's review what it looked like BEFORE...


And I'm proud to show you what it looks like NOW!





Incredibly exciting, right?! The landscaping finally got finished, despite a few setbacks, this past Thursday morning. I still have to throw some trellis on the side of the garage to cover up the stucco that needs to be redone (we can't fix EVERYTHING all at once, after all!) but other than that we're finished!

Saturday was the big dance recital. It was a crazy busy and sometimes stressful day - but everything went really well. The kids were excited and the parents seemed pleased. It sure was a relief for it to be over, though! That night we hosted a BBQ to celebrate the end of my Y career (for now...), a successful dance recital, and the new back yard! Thank goodness for Travis, Mum and Dad, Heather and Anthony, and Alison and Noah for being so incredibly amazing all weekend and pitching in with everything from costume-making to backstage working to ticket taking to house cleaning to BBQ set up to cupcake making and beyond.

I was blown away by the support of my family and friends this weekend. I am truly blessed to have you all in my life. Thank you a million times over! I love you!

I don't have photos from the dance recital yet - but will share them with you later in the month. I'll leave you with some great pics from the BBQ (note what good folks we are by staying off the sod so that it can take root REALLY well!)... unfortunately some of my favorite pictures from the evening won't upload to my computer because my camera is dying and files keep getting corrupted, but these few give you a little taste...

How did it get to be June already???

I mean - wow! Time flies!

This is my last week with the YMCA, with Saturday being the dance recital and my last official commitment and Arts & Humanities Specialist. It's been an interesting ride for the past few years, and I leave my position there with equal parts sadness and relief.

I was smart enough to get a bunch of time-consuming loose ends tied up last week (not that there aren't more to come...) so that this week has been pretty calm all things considered, and I'm beginning to have the time to reflect on my time at the Y, my career aspirations, and life in general.

I haven't spent my evenings at the Y this week because I'll be spending so much time there Friday and Saturday - this has resulted in me working normal eight hour days, 8-4 or 9-5 and heading HOME FOR THE DAY at the end of them. I can't even explain to you what a strange change of pace that is. Is this what normal people do? : ) I've been killing myself working two jobs for years when I could have three or four hours of free-time to do with as I please in an evening? No kidding!

I'm not being negative - because you all know how much I love the Y and how hard it was to give up. But boy, do I have big plans for my new found free time!

And don't think that I'm going to idle it away on the couch either (although it's nice to have that option from time to time!) because I have so many more things I want to do. I've already got art teaching gigs lined up for summer and fall, Travis and I recently became captains of our block and I'm actively serving on various committees for the Eastown Community Association.

I'm learning to garden, too. Slowly... : )

In general it's just a great time to reflect back on how far I've come over the past years, and everything I've done. In just a couple of weeks Travis and I will head to Mackinac Island for a long weekend to celebrate our anniversary. OUR ANNIVERSARY! Our first year of marriage is already almost wrapped up!

I'm really just very thankful. I'm so lucky to have all that I do.

Lily in the kitchen!

While Heather, Mariah and I baked cupcakes, and the boys put up a fence, Lily hung out in the kitchen and played with bowls and utensils galore!

Fish & chips, mate!

Guess who has been in Michigan for the past week or so and came over to Grand Rapids for a visit this past weekend???

My brother! Here we are grabbing some dinner with Travis and our parents on Sunday...


Travis was excited to join the new "Beer Mug Club" or something along those lines, at the restaurant. Here he is diligently filling out his "paperwork"...


I had a delicious alcoholic version of an Arnold Palmer (half lemonade, half ice tea) and it was yummy!


And being stereotypically English, four of the five of us at the table ordered the fish and chips! (Note, one of the five that ordered it was NOT English... so it wasn't the four Brits that ordered it and no one else!)


It was also delish!

Beautiful weather, beautiful people, beautiful afternoon.

Happy Monday!