National Donut Day

It seems now a days that there is a National ___ day for everything.  We particularly liked this day because who doesn't like a donut!  We indulged ourselves at the local bakery, Sweetwaters, which is the best.  Happy Donut Day Friends!




JVG

Blue Hair

A few years ago when Norah was in utero I decided that I wanted to try something different with my hair.  It was a nice excuse to go visit my friend Ratty on the east side of the state and have a nice little girls day before the third one arrived.  I kept up with the blue for a little while but it was expensive and it took a lot of time, so eventually I went to my salon here and had them dye it back all the same color.





Well, I guess two years later I decided that I wanted to go back to blue.  i really did like it and its a nice way for a bit of change and I absolutely love my salon here.  It didn't take nearly as long as it did before and I love it!  Unfortunately, with blue it does seem to wash out rather quickly so by the time I needed another haircut it definitely needed to be touched up.  However, this time I went PURPLE... and I'm loving it.  I've been told that purple stays forever, so that sounds good to me!  I'm excited for my sassy hair and everybody has complimented me on it.  :)

JVG

Robbins Egg Blue

I wish I was organized to write down all the clever things that the kids say, but if I did, I wouldn't have time for much else.  The crazies have been really enjoying their artwork and we usually let them do it while they are winding down for bed in their room. They get so excited and want to show us their artwork so they leave it at the top of the stairs so that we can see it when we check on them before we go to bed.  This time Dude drew this really awesome picture and it was a picture of a robin in a tree with its eggs.  G asked him how he knew what color the eggs should be and he said, "because the crayon said that it was Robbin's egg blue" haha.   I couldn't believe it, but it was true! Smart little duder.




JVG

Love WINS

June 26, 2015 is the day that Love Won.  In a big way.  I was on my way to the airport to pick up my dearest Amy when I listened as the SCOTUS ruled in favor of same-sex marriage.  I mean, I was already super stoked about seeing Amy but to add this on top?  It was just icing on the cake.  I'm not gonna lie I did get emotional and cried a bit in the car as I heard the verdict and couldn't wait to tell Amy!




I was a little worried about celebrating so openly, being in West Michigan... but I honestly didn't care.  SCOTUS had a big week and I am honestly surprised that it went the way that it did, but so very very happy about it.

JVG

Family time when in Seattle

When I go on my trips I like that G sends me pictures of what the kids are doing... they have lots of adventures while I'm away!  They got to build a bear which was quite the experience for them!  Lucy got to upgrade to a booster instead of a car seat, which she was thrilled about.  :)  Glad to see that they don't miss the Momma when I'm out of town :)


















































JVG

Brahms Requiem, last KPhil Concert of the season

For our last concert of the season we teamed up with the Bach Chorus Festival to perform Brahm's Requiem which was quite an experience!  We had two soloist come in for it as well, and there were over 160 of us all together.  Rehearsal was a little weird for this cycle because Memorial Day fell on what is usually one of our rehearsal nights so they pushed it later in the week and turned it into a dress rehearsal. I am so amazed that we practiced our parts separately and then came together for two rehearsals and then performed!  Thats craziness!  But we had dress rehearsal on Wed and Thurs that week and I have to admit that my right shoulder was killing me.  I honestly think I incurred a violin playing related injury.  There was shooting pain in my shoulder and I couldn't lift it past a certain point.  It was intense!  And then, two days after our second dress we had our concert.  Whew!  The kiddos did try to make it to one of the dress rehearsals but since we were at Chenery Auditorium instead of Dalton Theater it didn't last as long as normal.  We're not supposed to bring food or drinks in, and we usually give them snacks and stuff to occupy them.  But, they got to see a little bit so that's good.  :)















This concert our friends Quebra and Dizzy couldn't come so we had a fairly relaxing day.  The weather was terrible and rainy but it all worked out!  One of my lessons actually came too which was amazing!  Holly, Jason, Jason's parents, G and my Dad came to watch.  :)  It was cozy.














It was a bittersweet concert because I have never performed in Chenery before and it was amazing!  But this was also our concert mistress, Sarah's last concert.  She is going to grad school down in Maryland where her husband got a job and it has nothing to do with music!  Even though I haven't known her that long I was really sad to hear she was going.






Excited for our next concert season! :)

JVG

Old Man Take Down

Have you ever had one of those days where something you would let slide happens and because of that certain mood you're in you kinda go crazy on that person?  Well, that day happened and this grumpy ass old mad definitely got an earful.  Let me set the stage for you...

I was dropping some books off at the library in the evening and saying hi to our friend Nancy.  I was on my way to the gym because I had had a bit of a frustrating day and when I was leaving there was a group leaving and someone reported that this guy hit a mini van and drove off.  Luckily, the people on the group saw the make and model of the vehicle and had their information.  I was a little worried that it was my van until they said that it was red.  Well, turns out that mini van was parked next me to, so it could've been Greta!  :(

As I was walking to my car there was this POS car chugging in to park and he gave me this really dirty look, like it was inconveniencing him to have to stop so that he wouldn't hit me in the cross walk.  He drove past the spot in front of me and then proceeded to back up.  Now, as he was backing up he was also straddling the line, so I backed out of my spot as quickly as possible because I was afraid that he was going to back in to me.  As I was pulling out to leave I had to drive past him to get out of the lot.  As I did so the guy gave me the dirtiest look I had ever witnessed from an old man and then gave me the finger!  Normally, I would just blow it off and whatever, but I was pissed.  And, there were people outside to witness if anything bad went down so I slammed on my brakes, reversed and got out of the car.  I was initially just going to roll my window down and say something to him but I was really heated so I got out.  I asked him what his problem was and why he thought that he could give me the finger and get away with it.  I told him that if he had a problem that he better just go ahead and say it instead of being a coward.  He just kinda grumbled something and walked into the library, not really acknowledging anything.  The people in the parking lot backed me up and said that I hadn't done anything wrong and not to let that grump ruin my day.

Well, as I got to the gym I was still pretty pissed off.  I called Nancy because I knew that she was still working and told her that if she saw a grumpy ass old man in a striped polo shirt not to help him (haha).  I told her what happened and she said, "Oh!  THAT guy!"  apparently one of the guys from the group who was outside helping with the hit in run was an off duty cop and gave that old man an earful inside.

even though he never apologized and obviously is a giant pain in the ass I felt a little vindicated that he got taken down a peg or two by the police officer.

Some days are just full of sass... and other days aren't.  Guess this old man picked the wrong day.

JVG