Saturday, April 18, 2009

There was a flood in Grand Rapids!

...A chalk flood, that is!

Rob Bliss hosted yet another Urban Experiment in downtown Grand Rapids this afternoon. Past events have included a Zombie Walk and a giant pillowfight... events that drew hundreds of college students from the surrounding area schools downtown. This time, the Urban Experiment was an event for ALL ages! At the Downtown Sidewalk Chalk Flood, over 10,000 pieces of sidewalk chalk were provided and the sidewalks were the canvases for any and everyone to come and create art!

With only living about 6 blocks from the city's center, and it being a GORGEOUS spring day, I couldn't pass up the opportunity to walk down and participate in the event! It was fun to see what happens when you give hundreds (maybe thousands) of people free chalk and five hours!

Here are a few images from the afternoon! As always, clicking on the image will make it larger. Oh, and all you trusty followers may notice, I'm thinking about switching up my watermark a bit... what do you think?? Enjoy!


The next image has a story to it...
One reason I really enjoyed my GVSU education: the faculty. The variety of professors that I had over the years really created a diverse and exciting learning experience for me. For example, my Junior year @ GVSU, I had the pleasure of being taught by an adjunct professor and radio personality, Gerry Barnaby. Since that class, I've seen him around town... the Thanksgiving Day parade giving out candy, the West Michigan Mom's Sale broadcasting live... pretty cool. Anyways, another professor that I really enjoyed having was Dr. Corey Anton. He was one of my all-time favorite professors... providing a comfortable and challenging learning environment in all his classes. I never thought I'd see him around town like Barnaby.... but today, I did! One of his favorite pasttimes is juggling. And low and behold, as we were on our way back to the apartment, my roommate says, "Look at that Juggler! He's pretty good!" I turned and smiled... there was my old prof, juggling away in the middle of Rosa Parks Circle. Love it.

BEAUTIFUL! :)

COMING UP THIS WEEK.... Heather's Bridal Shower pictures, a family update, and an evening at the beach! Stay tuned :)

Friday, April 10, 2009

Baby Parker, round 2!

Baby Parker was born just a few weeks ago... actually he is almost a month old! Yay! Last week, my friend Rachel and I were invited over to watch Baby Parker for a little while. It was a joy to hang out with him again... oh, and grab a few new shots! Hope you enjoyed the images from the surprise shoot, Jeremy and Marie :)




His shirt says it all... he is "soooo cute!"

Tuesday, April 7, 2009

Madison: 2 years old!

Meet Madison! She's an adorable little 2-year-old and a cousin of one of my July brides! A while back, her mom contacted me about portraits after seeing her niece's engagement pictures. Since then, we've just been waiting for her 2nd birthday and some warmer weather to come around to take some cute outdoor pics!
Well, her 2nd birthday came, but unfortunately we missed the warm weather to play outside! However, we were able to be flexible with indoor pics and fortunately her friend, Andrea has the perfect lighting in her house! (Thanks, Andrea!!)
Kelly, thanks for letting me spend the morning with you and your daughter! I had a great time and I hope you enjoy Madison's pictures!

Here are a few highlights from the day...



We did brave the elements for a some outdoor pics!





Back inside for a few more!




Madison's dad is a Detroit Firefighter... so of course, we had to take some pictures with his hat(s)! What a cute prop!


As always, thanks for stopping by! Have a great Tuesday!

Monday, April 6, 2009

go green! go white!

Earlier this year, I did something I never thought I would do. I cheered for Michigan State. That's right. I was born and raised a University of Michigan fan, but this year... I switched alliances, much to my family's chagrin, but much to my boyfriend's delight. Apparently it was a good year to switch... hopefully the boys will bring home another national championship title tonight!

It's been an exciting March Madness run this year... I chose MSU to go all the way to the final game in my bracket! Awww yea. I still won't beat my roommate (she's in first place with her very first bracket ever. psh!), but I'm proud of my final 2 pick and excited for the game! Let me say that I'm also very excited for the city of Detroit as they host the Final Four. Hotels all over town are booked solid and the weekend was FULL of awesome events to host and entertain guests in the city. Hopefully the overflow of visitors and media was a good boost for the city!!

Of course, what is a post without a picture?? Here we are with our new MSU shirts for the UofM vs. MSU basketball game in February (taken with my iSite)... Aren't we cute? :) Go green! Go white!

Thursday, April 2, 2009

Some Grand Rapids guests!

This past weekend, my brother and his lovely family came to visit me in Grand Rapids. We've become kind of accustomed to having them stay here - this is their third time and they are great guests! The first time, my college graduation brought them here... the second time, a business meeting for my brother, Dave, brought them here... and this last time, a coupon class for my sister-in-law, Laura, brought them here! Laura is a coupon queen - literally! She teaches coupon classes (Yes, a class! And it's so great! The secrets will save you hundreds or thousands - seriously. Find out more info here on her blog! Read it. Admission for the class supports a great cause as well!).

Anyways, Laura hosted a coupon class in Rockford (near Grand Rapids) this past Saturday, so of course we gladly welcomed the whole family and made another weekend of it! Here are a few photo highlights!

Thursday evening, after a wonderful dinner by Laura, we headed to Jersey Junction (yes, the second time in one week!) for some ice cream cones! Baby Bo LOVED his chocolate ice cream!

1) I love watching Bo try to eat his ice cream.
2) I LOVED the bokeh inside Jersey Junction!!


Helllllloooooo BLUE EYES! FYI: I did not specifically edit Bo's eyes in this next picture, they got the same overall "bump" as everything else!
Apparently his ice cream cone wasn't enough - good thing his dad shares well! :)

Friday afternoon was spent at the Grand Rapids Children's Museum - where I pretty much went picture-crazy... but what's new? This museum is SO fun - even for big kids :)

We all loved the bubbles - Bo wasn't quite sure about them at first, but then he got the hang of them!
Rachel is a Bubble-Pro!


Ok, this triangular mirror goodness was so fabulous - and by the look of Bo's face, he was absolutely mesmerized by it, too!



I cannot get over this next picture... Boaz looks like such a big boy... not my little 16-month-old nephew!!
Saturday was a mommy-filled day. I went to the West Michigan Mom's Sale with Laura in the morning where I took pictures, held the bags and learned all the ins-and-outs of mom-to-mom sales. Craziness! That afternoon was Laura's coupon class - I attended as her Vanna White (and to hear all her coupon secrets again!!). After Saturday, I think I can successfully run a household on a small budget :)

Are you sick of Bo, yet? Good... me neither. But here is one more for the road: