we interrupt the Israel blogging for:

an update on normal life:

A wonderful Memorial Day weekend in Michigan kick-starting the summer of things I love around here like a Saturday morning in Holland with Christina & running into friends:

(Kate this picture is for you).

We spent Saturday between benches & shops, sipping JP's...tulip time blend of course while we caught up on life, thankful for great friendships like these. I did have to pick up a bag of Good Life granola at the Farmer's market of course!

We are usually on a wine tour on this front bookend of summertime; last year we were these two cats:


Due to just having traveled, we decided to keep it local this Memorial Day. We spent a lot of time around the house, had a bonfire with the neighbors and spent Sunday night & all day yesterday at the cottage.

The weekend also included my first attempt at schnitzel, something we ate in Israel and fun to share with my Dad & Evon. I continue to process deeply and realize that something in my paradigm was reshaped by our time in Israel. Thank for for your encouragement to keep writing...a few more posts left including these working themes:

hospitality & hope
Galilee: a few little fishing boys
traveling & teachings
mountaintops & making disciples
the shining city: Jerusalem

The beginning of June also marks the beginning of my birthday month--which my sister in law reminded me this morning via facebook. Haha. love that my family engages in this silliness.

For some good reading today, head over to Molly's new blog for her "coffee for thought" today. I met Molly two years ago through working at William Edwards; were both different girls in different jobs and our friendship has continued to be a blessing through the ebb and flow of the past two years. To know Molly is to love Molly & I am so glad she has started to share her writing with the world at large.

girls' day out

the girls (squinty-eyed, I should have busted out my shades)

I do have the world's best mother in law. Sorry. She's taken! Every year Ryan's mom takes his sis, Rochelle and I on a little day trip. I think this year may have been my favorite thus far. We met last Friday at 9:30 and headed to downtown Rockford, a little gem of a town about 15 miles north of Grand Rapids. Again, my state pride continues to rise this time of year, there are so many great places in Michigan that I don't even know much about!

We spent our morning wandering in and out of boutiques and crafty stores, along with a resale shop where I eyed a pair of Gap jeans and just knew they would be perfect. So for $23, they were mine! When does that ever happen with jeans? The 3 of us tend to get a little goofy together and there was a lot of laughter packed into the day including the time when I spilled on myself over our lunch at Arnie's and asked what a bib for adult would be called. Rochelle's response: "an apron". oh. haha. that one really got us. We spent the rest of the afternoon wandering again and capped it off with frappes from McDonalds....ahh
so nice to stop and smell the roses sometimes:

loving where you live

I think my pulse just picked up a little as I started writing. I always get excited/nervous to pick a winner for anything, even when I use a random method.

And I want to say before I do so that I LOVED reading about places people love and think that the list is worthwhile keeping for summer days and trips to new towns. Here were some common themes:
farmer's markets, little corner shops, places to find great gifts, wineries, corner pubs, early bird specials...the list goes on here

But more than that, almost everyone defined their favorite places with emotions and conversations and connection. Just proves that the places we love are even better with good friends and the memories that they signify. Thank you for sharing those places with ME and in turn giving me a little snapshot into your memories.

And now, before I continue to get sappy....here we go... a delicious bag of Good Life Granola is going to LUCKY NUMBER 7!

Candace said...
"Well you see i love zeeland(my home) and holland. So i would say bringing my son to zeeland bakery for a donut but also as a family we love to pick up our coffee at JPS as we walk down to the farmers market! Which i am so excited for and now i have something new to add to my list when i go!"

state love/ all things local giveaway

I love Michigan. understatement. How many other states do you know where people know the state motto and several websites by heart?
Such as my favorites:
michigan.org, Pure Michigan, Great Lakes, Great Times..and the new revamped one. Smitten with the Mitten including it's own brand found over at Michigan Awesome:

I have truly come to appreciate the little lake towns and wineries and coffee shops that have become favorites in many places this side of the state. Like the Holland Peanut store where I took these girls when they visited last summer, or the little shops that we strolled through when we stayed local for spring break.

Something that I have really come to look forward to is the local farmer's market that sets up shop 2 days a week right down the street from my office. And it was there, at that very market last fall where Ryan and I discovered this:

Only the best bag of granola ever. And the people were really nice at the booth too, letting us take 2 samples of it because we came as they were closing. There is such a tasty sweetness and crunch to it that after we bought it on Saturday morning...I think it was gone by Tuesday of that week. It found its way into muffins and parfaits and I think mostly just our bare hands shoveling it into our mouths. Neither of us have confessed yet to finishing off the bag. I was at JP's the other day and there it was again. So...being the little local cheerleader that I am, I emailed the Good Life Granola people about my happiness with their granola...and they are giving a bag to you.

In turn, I want to know your favorite local places to go wherever you live. Is it a particular coffee shop that makes you feel cozy or a local market or pub around the corner? What makes you love where you live?

Share your thoughts until Friday night @ midnight because Saturday morning someone is going to wake up one step closer to a bowl of granola in their belly...

I LOVE FALL. Can you tell by my obsessive mention of the pumpkin baking, the red tree, the necessity of gourds? All of it. We have had some awesome weekends with friends enjoying the traditions of fall and before I tell you in about this weekend's events, I have to go back a few weeks and tell you in pictures about when they came:

We were so excited because it was the big ArtPrize opening weekend that I wrote about here and even though they are the type of friends that you can stay in your comfy clothes and drink coffee all day with, we wanted to share the adventures of our city. We spent the day Saturday downtown checking out a bunch of different venues and made our 2nd trip to Hopcat



I think my hubby was inspired...this was his artsy pic of the day of muah.