Ann Arbor....yet again

Mike is in the hospital for the eighth surgery he's had to have. Yes we counted. Today he had surgery on his stomach to stop the acid reflux that is really starting to do damage to his esophagus. The surgery was an extensive one, just about five hours in surgery and about an hour and a half in recovery. They ended up doing something called a stomach wrap around the outside of his esophagus to stop the acid from coming up. His surgery was the first of the day, the doctor wanted to make sure that he was able to get Mike done first thing today, so we left the house at 4 am this morning and we got to Ann Arbor by about 6:30 am. Needless to say he's in pain but this surgery will do so much good for him.

I Hate Reading

No, I really don't hate reading, I just hate reading textbooks. Textbooks are dry, boring, and tedious, and I have to read them, which makes it all the more fun. My last semester was easy peasy compared to this semester. I didn't really do a lot of reading last semester for my classes, I didn't really need to. However, this semester is completely different, much, much, much more reading.

Summer is coming up, well not for a few months, but that gives me plenty of time to work out on the bowflex that has moved into the empty room in my apartment. I'm going on a cruise this summer in the Caribbean which means swimsuit, which means I need to get in shape. The bowflex moved in this past weekend, and I started working out Monday. There's an exercise routine that I'm following and I work out for 45 minutes, 5 days a week. So hopefully I'll be seeing some results soon, because I'm really feeling it.

I had my guitar lesson today. I've got a project song called Windy and Warm. There's been versions done by Chet Atkins and other people. It's just instrumental and it's really hard. There's definitely going to be a lot of practicing going down.

What I'm Listening To: Ok well I'm not really listening to anything new, but on the way home tonight I was listening to a great Irish band called Dervish. I don't think that they're doing anymore touring, but they were one of the first bands that I ever saw in concert. They were brought here through NPR and Our Front Porch. Thank goodness for NPR!

I Want It Chopped Off

I got a haircut last Thursday and it was wonderful. I love getting my hair cut. This time I got about an inch and a half cut off, along with layers, side bangs and a lot of the body out. My hair is really thick and it's much more manageable when it's a little thinned out. The girl who cuts my hair, Beth, is so nice. She's probably in her early 20s, tall and skinny. She's got some of the coolest tattoos, and they all mean something to her. She has a flower on the small of her back, a sunflower that winds up her side, and she's going to be getting a windy tree that starts on her side and goes up to the top of her back. She also told me about a mission trip that she wants to go to Africa, specifically Kenya. She was really excited about it, her mom wasn't. I would love to go to Africa, I think it will be an amazing trip for her. I want to travel, I just wish I had more time and money to do that.

What I'm Listening To: A live Nickel Creek concert from NPR: All Songs Considered. It's a podcast that I downloaded and I can't stop listening to it. I went to a Nickel Creek concert with my friend Allison this summer in Interlochen, and it was amazing. We have both been a fan of Nickel Creek for a LONG time. Listening to the podcast takes me back to this summer and that concert. You can listen to it on the NPR website as well as from iTunes.

I Wish....

I wish that I had time to read. Not just reading my textbooks, cause those are really, really not fun to read. I mean, I wish I had time to sit down and read a good old fashioned fiction novel. The kind with plot lines, not about the Olmec culture from the Pleistocene period of the tropical Mexican lowlands. No thank you. I want to read something with developed characters, hell why not throw in a little romance too. I miss the days of being able to read through a class. Now I'm afraid to miss a class for fear of falling behind.

I wish the weekends would come sooner. I live for the weekends. I get to see my family, I get to see Mike. I feel like I'm always counting down the days (I feel bad about that). Don't get me wrong, I'm starting to like my classes, some of them anyways, and things are going a lot better. But I still can't help but count down the days. As of now: one more day....

What you should listen to: Abigail Washburn. She's part of an all girl bluegrass band that was at Wheatland this past September. Although I didn't find this out until after I heard her song, "Eve Stole the Apple," and looked her up. I like bluegrass, it's the roots of Americana, and this song about Eve is haunting and somehow relateable. Imagine that.

Homecoming! Again?

For the fifth year in a row I attended homecoming. I went last weekend with my boyfriend who I met at Wheatland in early September. Not too long ago I was talking with my roommates about Homecoming, and how we all were going to miss getting dressed up and getting our hair done. Little did I know that I was going to be able to go again.

Saturday I got up, went and got my hair done and went home. And as soon as I got home, I remembered that I forgot to pick up the flower thing that you stick in the guys' chest. So I had to grab everything and run back into town and go pick it up. Now I had to be at Mike's house by a little after 2, and by the time I got to the flower shop it was 1:30, so I needed to get going. When I got in the flower shop and looked at what I had ordered the flower was red. I had ordered white. Now I have to wait for them to remake it, taking up more of my time. I still needed to get my dress on. So, 15 minutes later I have my pokey flower thing, but now I need to find somewhere that I can change. The community center parking lot! Perfect spot, lots of privacy. I've had to change there before.

Once I was changed, I got on the road. So I get there at about 2:25, and Mike isn't even completely dressed yet. He had a surprise for me and we left around 3 for that. He took me on a carriage ride. Very romantic. The leaves were changing colors and we rode near the river. It was beautiful. After that we went to his grandpa's house and took a few pictures. Then we went with his friend Nick and Nick's girlfriend Amanda to get pictures. Here's a few.

Does anyone notice anything....different about this picture above?

After the dance we went back to his house and watched a movie. The next day we went with his family to a pumpkin farm. I would say we were some of the older people there, or we didn't have young children with us. But it was still quite fun. Then we went to a couple of cheese shops and I bought some really good cheese. I love cheese and so does Mike's mom, so her and I were able to taste test some really good stuff.

All in all, it was the perfect weekend. I'm having my best high school year....in college.

Much Love Martin

Here it is, my Martin. It is the most beautiful sound I've ever heard. My mom and I went to Elderlys in Lansing yesterday and I got an early birthday/Christmas present. I am going to pay for some of it, but it is probably the best gift I've ever gotten. I've been wanting a new guitar for quite some time now, I wanted a nice one, and Martins are quite nice. It's an electric/acoustic and that means that it has the electronics built in so that I can plug into an amp and play it that way. I'm not sure when I'll be playing through an amp, but if I need to I can easily plug in.

Wallflower