Mac

Ten years ago, I met one of my best friends, Mac. Last week he stopped eating and drinking, and struggled to stand on his own.

Today, I had to say goodbye to him.

I loved Mac. 

He was with me during the worst times in my life and the best times in my life. 

He wasn't just with me, he actually went through them, too. 

He was always happy and excited to see me, always ready to play, always willing to go anywhere with me. 

He was my little heart, and I will always love him.

Thank you, Mac, for being the best dog, the sweetest friend that I could ever ask for.

Book of the Week: At the Water's Edge

I had to redeem my book reading experience after last week, and I selected At the Water's Edge by Sara Gruen for this week's read. She authored Water for Elephants, as well. I loved At the Water's Edge, although I was a little skeptical going in, as I was not a fan of Water for Elephants.

I thought it was well written, and she did a great job of making the end of the book difficult to predict! I decided early-midway through the book exactly how I thought it was going to end, down to some very detailed predictions. Though the main prediction was correct, I was way off about everything else, as well as being wrong about how my only correct guess actually occurred within the story.

Additionally, it was a unique story, and it was about Nessie, people!! The Loch Ness monster!! Book of my heart!! I recommend it for a fun read!

Book of the Week: The Princess

This week's book was The Princess by Lori Wick. Not a good read...I don't know why I continue to read Christian romance books (I know exactly why I do- they are extremely accessible to me) because they are POORLY WRITTEN. These are typically just NOT good authors. (Sorry to all of those fans out there.) I read them because I can, and every time, I regret spending the amount of time it took to complete the book when I've actually finished it.

Anyway, here's the cover of The Princess for anyone who's interested, despite my lack of recommendation. I know there are tons of people out there who would absolutely love this- just not me!

When things go wrong...

Today I poured Dr. Pepper all over my lap in class. While others, initially including myself, might view this as a really crummy start to the day, it actually brought my mood around a little!

I had a rough day at internship the day before with some low functioning students, then on my way to class that morning, my ramp was unexpectedly closed for construction. I panicked for a bit, and eventually found myself in a Cracker Barrel parking lot in Okemos, trying to figure out exactly where I was and how to get to campus from there, while angry patrons of the restaurant honked at me. I had to run to class, but actually made it there before the professor, who was running late, thank goodness.

Then sitting there in class, partway through a miserable lecture, I dug through my bag and pulled out a Dr. Pepper. Now, I don't even drink pop anymore. This may have been the first time I'd had pop in a year, or even longer, and I wouldn't have even chosen to have it if my clinical supervisor hadn't pressured me to bring a pop bottle in at the end of the week for an intervention material. Anyway, I decided sugar was necessary at that moment in my life, and cracked open the pop bottle, and it GUSHED and fizzed all over the table and my pants...and I could have been upset. Most days, I probably would have. BUT, after so many other little things going wrong, it must have just struck a chord, because it totally changed my day for the better!

When so many little things go wrong and just keep going wrong, eventually you have to laugh, because all of those little things aren't worth getting upset!

Besides...

Book of the Week: The Magician's Nephew

Today's book of the week was The Magician's Nephew, another C. S. Lewis book from the Chronicles of Narnia.  For those of you interested in the series, READ IT!!

Book of the Week: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe

This week I revisited one of my childhood favorites: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe from the Chronicles of Narnia by C. S. Lewis! I would highly recommend it to ANYONE from the age of eight on up through geriatrics. My dad read the Chronicles of Narnia to my siblings and I when we were kids, and I really loved the whole series. (And still do now!)

Awesome book! I'll definitely be reading my way back through the series this summer!

Four Day Weekend!

It's Easter weekend! And I have a four day weekend! Party Central here at our house. Magoo and I started the weekend off right by heading to Indiana for lunch with family, a little construction supervising, and a bit of light shopping (HA- Nana came with us and there is no such thing as "light shopping" when she is involved).

Where's my hard hat, Mom??

Magoo also had his hair trimmed by a friend of mine Friday morning, as I've cut it the last several times and did a particularly poor job last time. I've cut it really well a few times in the past, but I thought, well hey! We're here with Megan, so she may as well give him a cute little cut and save him from another potentially bad mom-cut. :)  Look at the fancy little head of hair on that dapper dan!

We went for a walk downtown while waiting for our lunch date to go on break, and that's when we found a really cool construction site. Magoo loved watching the men working with the digger and the semi, so we hung around for a while and ate popcorn and waved and pointed and giggled. Lots of fun, people!

The semi driver waved at us, too!!

We broke our construction site date a little early when we heard a train whistle off in the distance, and passed the courthouse on our way to the train tracks, where a very sweet, very old gentleman gave Magoo a teddy bear and chatted for a minute. From there, we stopped at a little store with a train set and some other fun toys, since we couldn't hear the train whistle anymore. I love that store! It was great when I lived there as a kid, as a college student, and as a mom, it's still one of my favorite stores! Magoo had so much fun that it was actually too fun... there was a minor meltdown when it was time to leave for our lunch date! He enjoyed himself though.

We had lunch at Burger King since they have a play place, and oh man, was that crazy. Friday morning in early April, right? Should be nice and slow, right? WRONG. I guess it was spring break down there, because there were kids EVERYWHERE. Magoo made friends with a little guy his age though, and once he was brave enough to climb through the tunnel to get in, he had a lot of fun. He really wanted me to climb in there with him, but no thanks, kid! I don't want to be the cause of getting us kicked out of the BK play place! 

It was great to see family, even though it was really only for an hour- I really miss living in an area where it is convenient to see people that are important to me, and that were so pivotal in my life growing up. Love my family, love my hometown, and love the people that life there!

Captain Magoo

We ran into a few stores after lunch, and I almost, ALMOST (and now I really wish I had) bought some rockin' leather pants that were "reduced, on sale, clearance". How cool would that have been? I'm going back to BAR. GAIN. SHOP.  when I finally finish my program and have a big girl job somewhere. Magoo talked me into buying a couple things he wanted though! Well, one thing. I found the really fun hat he's wearing in the picture above, and thought it was too cute to pass up, and he asked Nana for the Thomas puzzle that you see him holding in the picture. Made out like a bandit!

And then he passed out on the way home. :)

Can't wait for our Easter Sunday festivities!

Book of the Week: Safe Haven

This week I went all Nicholas Sparks. I don't typically read his books OR watch any movies about his books, but I saw the movie Safe Haven sometime last year, and happened to notice the book in my mom's bookshelf this week. And that's how that happened. While I liked the movie, I'm not sure that I really enjoyed the book all that much. When you know people that lived through such a horrific experience, it ceases to be a light read and becomes something a bit more emotionally difficult to read through. Even if it IS Nicholas Sparks.