Family Vacation!!

I'm so excited!! For the first time in years, I have the time and opportunity to go on a family vacation!! I cannot wait!! I'm headed back to Holland tomorrow night and going camping with my family on Friday (going home Wednesday night for a chiropractor appointment on Thursday morning..yippee!!).  We are spending 5 days in Indiana and then 5 more in Ohio.  Don't worry about B, though...I've spend the past few days frantically making him meals to put in the fridge and freezer and then reheat throughout the time I'm gone :)  He is pretty much the luckiest guy in the whole world!  I should have several more books to report on when I get back and I'll put some pics up too!  I can't wait!!!  VACATION TIME!!

Moving Right Along!

Another one off the list!  I received Water For Elephants by Sara Gruen from Paperback Swap and finished it in a few short days.  The story follows the memories of "90 or 93 year old" Jacob Jankowski, a former vet for the Benzini Brother circus.  He relates the story of meeting many interesting characters such as Walter, the dwarf clown, Marlena, the liberty horse performer who is married to August, the schizophrenic animal trainer.  The history of Depression era circuses is related through this tale of love and survival as the elderly Jacob reminisces about his former lifestyle.  The characters are slowly developed and blossom into well-rounded and believable members of this traveling show and the juxtaposition of assisted living-bound Jacob offers unique parallels.  Of course, one of the characters is an elephant, whose name is Rosie.  I don't want to give any more away because I might ruin the simple sweetness of this quick read novel!    

I did it!

I finally finished my first book off my summer reading list!  (I also got a box full of books delivered yesterday..oops..haha)  Amid all the craziness of spring term, I managed to find the time to read Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson.  I still haven't decided how I feel about  the book.  Granted, biographical type stories are generally difficult for me to get through because of the writing style.  However, I was determined to read this book and my slight OCD doesn't let me not finish a book (seriously, even if its YEARS later, I will finish every single book that I begin...its exhausting sometimes!)  But anyways, the story itself is a beautiful one of love and compassion in an area of the world where most of America believes that none exists.  The most striking part of it for me was the willingness and excitement of so many of the leaders in Pakistan and Afghanistan to help Greg further his goal of education for their nations' young girls.  Its such a different view than the US media tends to portray of the Middle East.  From an educational standpoint, the work that Greg is engaged in is absolutely amazing.  I cannot even imagine the types of circumstances that teachers over there work in, such as 50 or more children to teach or no building to use as a school, while we complain here if our class sizes exceed 25 kids.  It was a humbling story to read even if the writing sometimes got bogged down in the places and names and facts.

Interesting News

I saw this story this morning on Yahoo and thought it was really interesting.  Working at Clements has put me in contact with a variety of old letters and documents and its interesting to think about the journey those artifacts may have gone on to finally settle in Ann Arbor.  Of course, I'm sure the University wouldn't have anything knowingly stolen, just as Haverford didn't realize :)  But its still cool to think about where some of the documents have been, how many hands they passed through, if they spent a while trapped in a box in someones attic or were just barely saved from being thrown out.  While the actual historical value of the document is interesting by itself, when these events of traveling are considered, they become even more important in a historical sense.  Each artifact potentially comes with a story that goes beyond simply the story of why it was written or created.  I think old stuff is so cool :)

Where the Water Meets the Shore

I went to the beach this week at Holland State Park.  I'm constantly amazed how peaceful and centered I feel after a trip to the beach :)  I'm working on some art pieces inspired by the Lake and shore and will hopefully have pictures soon.  Also, I'm working on photographing my first etsy pieces!!! I'm hoping to have those up by the start of next week!!!!  Yea!!!