Home Sweet Homey

I've been blog-absent for awhile, because life has been crazy and busy and crazy-busy.  Some good, some bad.  But for now, I will stick with some good and give a sneak preview of...our new house!  I only have a few pictures today, and they are outside pictures...stay tuned for the inside.

New burning pit/cage/basket....Cory says if they didn't know we were from Michigan before, they sure do
now.....

My dad found it on the side of the road with this note:

Front of our house...

More front....

Side of our house- this used to be covered in ivy and getting rid of it was a BIG job...

Those barrels of ivy are 2 of like 6...

And last but not least...the back door and window and my handsome kitty...

That's all for now....we're finally getting the inside set up and it's feeling like home.  So, more to come...

Movin' on UP!

 

This is me and my sister Lauren.  We did the robot in green light dots.  She's in Brazil right now for our Brazilian brother's wedding.  My sister Kyle and I don't have passports or money so we couldn't go.  But congrats to Eduardo and Sarah!!  

I have some big news myself!  No, I'm not pregnant.  That's what everyone guesses everytime I say I have "big news", and that's never it.  When I called to tell people I was engaged, 3 of my closest friends/family guessed baby before engagement.  This time, the news is....me and Cory are buying a house!!!  HOORAY!!  No more stupid apartment!!  I can't wait to move in!  We should be closing early next week.  I was hoping to close tomorrow, but, c'est la vie.  

So with moving comes lots of packing.  I don't like packing.  I don't like moving.  But I LOVE being moved- like, when the move is done, I love being in a new place.  And some parts of packing are fun, like finding old things from when you were a kid.  I found tons of really funny notes and drawings from my sisters (including diary entries written in my diary by my older sister Ashley, including the genius entry "I hate Ashley, she is always writing in my diary").  Here are two of my other favorites:

This one is a drawing my sister Kyle did which says, "To Erin P___, from Kyle P____.  I know you love garfield so I made you this."  Is that not the cutest?!  I feel like I should have posted a picture of young Kyle to go with this so it's double-cute....

Ah, that's better.

This one was a triple effort.  As a back-story to this one:  Kyle's real name is Kyleen.  She is the youngest.  When we were little, me and Lauren used to tell her that she was supposed to be a boy and that my dad (who's name is Scott) wanted to name her Scottleen.  The front says "The Lauren & Kyle Case.  Summary:  Kyle fake farted & Lauren fake & real farted.  Kyle threw 4 shoes at Lauren when Lauren called her names."  The first page is Lauren's side:  "Kyleen hit Lauren twice with tennis shoes just because I called her Fartleen, because she was farting.  I'm suing her for 5 cents because of hurt feelings.  Signed, Lauren.  Another thing I'm suing her for is spitting in my hair."  Second page, Kyle's side:  "She farted then was calling me Fartleen.  I asked her nicely a few times to stop but she wouldn't so I yelled and she just started calling me Scottleen.  So I got real mad and threw a shoe.  So I am suing for 5 cents for calling me Fartleen and Scottleen.  Signed, Kyleen."  There is another page that is hard to decipher, but I think it says that we determined that Lauren wins the case because words don't physically hurt and shoes do.

 

 I heart my sisters.

Texas

Quiche Cat

View from my bed...

The delicious new lunch I discovered at the bakery across the street from my work- veggie quiche with delicious fresh fruit!

Summer....

 Me and my sister were in a parade!

 We've also been having lots of pool parties....

And a few months ago, Cory and I went to Baltimore & DC...we ate street food...

In the next few weeks, I will be going to Cedar Point, Pennsylvania, Baltimore, and then Texas!  I will be very busy.  And I need money!  Time to post things on Ebay....  :)

Time for Bed....

A Few Of My Favorite Things...

Teenage Dream

I went to see Eddie Vedder last night at the Fox Theatre in Detroit, which is the most beautiful theatre I've ever been to. And the show was AMAZING!! And we sat in the FRONT ROW!! He played his own solo songs, and also played Neil Young's "Damage Done"...and we all know I love me some Neil Young.


And some Eddie Vedder.... :) I could hear 13 year old Erin in my head, saying, "OMG!!! Eddie Vedder! Why aren't you wearing a flannel shirt right now while you're watching this, Erin?"

1 Year

Seriously.

It is never going to stop raining.

Fun Times, Summer in Some Cities...

So much has been going on! This happens every year at this time and is why I love summertime so much...so many fun goings-ons...

First, we went to visit my best gal Angel in Baltimore (and her boyfriend Dustin, of course). We ate delicious foods, went on a ghost walk, visited museums, went to Washington, DC to see the sights (and have dinner with my wonderful aunt & cousins & uncle). We had so much fun, I can't wait to go back sometime!! Angel and Dustin are great hosts. And I tried mussels for the first time! So big!

Oh, and this is Kegasus. He is legendary. Obviously.

And this is me and a giant bunny.

Last Friday, Mike, Steph, Cory, Lauren, Kasey and I all went to a bar called Ashley's in Ann Arbor. Lots of good times and shenanigans ensued, including silly poses and odd props.

And Favorite Nikki married Derek! They are adorable and the wedding was beautiful.

3 of my sisters...

And being Dawn's sister now is awesome, she is hilarious. For example, doing things like this to Stuart when he passes out drunk (after tucking his beers in next to a porch outside).

Oh, and today I volunteered with my co-workers at a senior center and cleaned things and then felt so motivated, I finally cleaned out my car. And tomorrow I will eat a bagel in there again and mess it all back up. The end.

Abe vs. Fluff: The Rematch

Mother Nature is a Dirty Tease

So it was unseasonably warm for about a week. Now we have payback....

While I waited for my boss to meet me at the bank to reset the vault since we don't have power and can't open....

On my way home from working at a different branch....

In my "backyard", aka parking lot....

And in case you were wondering...yes, I AM still afraid that this tree is going to come through my bedroom wall, especially with all the ice build up, thanks for asking! :)

On the bright side, I am fully stocked with sandwich fixins, cookies, leftover pizza, and beer. So if we get all the way iced in, we're good to go.

How Knuckles Helps Erin Take Pics for Ebay

Pirate Cat Hearts

Today I got a super adorable Valentine's Day card from my bestie, Angel.

It is full of things that I love! Cats, pirates, hearts, sentiments...

On an unrelated note, has anyone else been watching the new Hawaii Five-O? Because I love it. And it makes me want to go back to Hawaii. Although I would totally want to go back if that show never existed. Seriously, I've been having dreams about Hawaii on a weekly basis.

Speaking of shows, my sister has recently discovered that Drake, the rapper, was on Degrassi. So I had to explain to her that Degrassi is a show that has seemingly been on a continuous loop on the Canadian channel for the last 30 years. And now we are watching it on the Netflix Instant Queue. Did you know Drake's real name is Aubrey Graham? Fun fact of the day. Even though no one who reads my blog probably listens to Drake. I only know who he is because of Kyle, and because of him being in videos with Rihanna on CoolTV. Cause I do love me some Rihanna, and I even more love me some CoolTV, which is the best TV channel ever.

White Out

So in case you haven't heard, it snowed a lot in the Midwest and- well, most of the country- recently. Then it got really cold. Then, this weekend, it got warmer! So me and my mom and Abe- my dog/not my dog/but still my dog went to the park. I knew the snow was going to melt, so I kept trying to get pictures of how deep it was by showing the snow in comparison to Abe.

But it's hard to get dogs to pose for pictures...

On an unrelated note, this is a picture of the tree that might come through the wall of our bedroom someday. See that awesome lean? That wall it's resting against is the other side of the wall of our bedroom. Our bed is on the other side of that wall. The apartment complex says they will take care of it "soon".

On another unrelated note, my cat's favorite place to sleep is a shoebox.

Man, that's cold...

I posted this picture to remind myself that I was once somewhere that was warm and snow did not exist.

Also, I cannot figure out how to edit the part of my blog that says I live in Toledo with my boyfriend. Since he was my boyfriend 2 titles ago, it seems like it should be updated, but blogspot won't let me, so...boyfriend it is!

Speaking of boyfriends, I broke up with snow on my Facebook page, but judging from the mountains of it everywhere I turn, I don't think the break up took...

P.S. I also don't have roommates anymore...unless you count Husband and Knuckles...but Knuckles doesn't pay rent and won't clean his own litterbox no matter how many times I beg him to, so...

....

Angel and I were 11 years old when we met at a mutual friend's birthday party in the middle of the summer. We hit it off, but didn't see one another again until the first day of school. I was in the middle of a crowded hallway, amidst a sea of unrecognizable faces, when all of a sudden I saw Angel pop up over everyone else, meet my eyes, and yell, "Hey, I know you!" And the rest, as they say, is history.

I remember going to her house when we were younger, and her sisters had matching bob haircuts and her mom drove a giant yellow Cadillac. Her brother was barely a toddler. I remember finding out that her mom was in college, studying to be a nurse. I remember being so impressed by that, because she was the first mom I knew who was in college, and I couldn't believe she'd been out of school for so long and had the guts to go back. And I could see how hard she worked, while still taking care of four kids. That was unfathomable to me at that age. When she started working at U of M, I used to wonder, "Now if I have a baby, would it be feasible for someone to drive me all the way to Ann Arbor to deliver it?"

I remember their old cat, Kermit, who her mom was convinced was a boy. We kept telling her, "Um, I think Kermit's pregnant." And I think up until the kittens were actually born and looking at her, her mom would answer each pregnancy assertion with, "No, he's not, he just ate a rabbit."

Kermit birthed many litters and one of the kittens from those litters birthed my cat, Knuckles. Angel's brother wanted to keep Knuckles because he looked different than every other cat in the litter, but Angel's mom insisted that I take him home, because she knew he'd lose interest in the cat before I would.

I remember family vacations, and being invited along and taken to beautiful cabins in Hocking Hills, and fed delicious food. I remember getting in trouble in high school, and never being judged by her, always being accepted...

When Angel moved to California, there was an ice storm back here in Michigan. I lived in an apartment with well water and we had no power, but on day 2, I had to go back to work and desperately needed a shower. I called Angel's mom and she said, "Yup, we have power, come on over!" Without Angel even on the same coast, she welcomed me over to intrude on her morning in a house full of people who I'm sure also needed the bathroom.

When she got sick, and Angel would visit, she would still be kind and generous, never letting on that she was exhausted, and in pain. I remember going to her house last summer, and even though everyone kept telling her that she didn't need to, she would ride around on a golf cart and pick the vegetables that had grown on the farm. Then she insisted that I take a carload of them home, and come back whenever I wanted more. I kept meaning to make zuccini bread out of the giant zuccini she gave me, but never quite got around to it...

And even in her last weeks, I remember sitting on a stool in her room, laughing about her dogs with her and shaking our heads at each other over sibling rivalry happening in the other room. Always smiling, even then...

Thank you for all of your kindness and generosity over all of these years, Tina. The world is a worse place without you in it.