The land of Cheese!

A new layout for a new home! Adios California and Hello Wisconsin! I technically still don't have internet access as I am working on a contraband connection (this has taken me forever to type and upload!) - so once I get it officially (which should be within the next week) I will be able to update much more regularly than I have since I have had 0 internet between my vacation home and massive road trip,

First thing to fill you in on is my trip back home! It was my first visit with family in over a year! That's pretty nuts if you ask me! Unfortunately most of my friends seemed to be gone or busy (it's funny how much things change as we get older) but it was nice to see those I got to visit with. I was home over the 4th of July and got to enjoy Grandville's Celebrations. It was good to catch up with my mom at the craft show and see the tacky parade once again. I also got to enjoy the lovely Lake Michigan coast (only 40 minutes away as opposed to Cali's 3 hour away coast!)

Sure, there's no whales....but no awful mouthfuls of salt either!

Mid week, Nick was kind enough to be my chauffeur to WI to do my work physical and search for an elusive apartment. It was unplanned, but very convenient, that my vacation home corresponded with a new job offer for this very reason. And, like my Fresno experience, 3 days turns out to not be a whole lot of time to find a nice place to live in an unfamiliar area, but I made do and found a very nice apartment at Whispering Ponds in Waukesha, WI. Although Wisconsin doesn't sound nearly as exciting on paper as California does, I think it'll be a good move for me. From what I've seen so far, it has a lot of hidden treasures. Going home made me realize that I really do enjoy the midwest, the concept of 4 seasons a year, and the general fact that the people are nicer out here (my theory of this is because they aren't starving themselves into a size 0). Don't get me wrong, I still ultimately would LOVE to be in Colorado one day, but as I wait, I'm pretty sure I'd rather be over here than in Fresno. Once I get my apartment settled (and cleaned!) I'll post pictures!

Me in my paradise

Nick's first visit to a White Castle

The end of the week in the mitten included another trip to the coast with my BFF Meg (whom I'm very excited that I will be able to see more often now that I'm only 5 hours away) and also an interesting party bus trip to Detroit to go to a Tigers game. The bus trip there was a lot of fun and the Tigers game was a blast (though extremely hot out!)...unfortunatly the same can't be said for the trip back. Fellow bus riders got overly (and by overly I mean piss ass) drunk and were not very agreeable. From refusal to take claim of a large cooler cramping my leg room (to which I was called a bitch) and a really touchy feely older gentleman (Evident as he said "Such soft skin and red hair" while touching my knee) I was ready to be done with the day. It was an experience I don't need to be having again any time soon. At the very end of my trip, I even got to see my dad, aunt, and cousin!

Sweating in the stands!

On the way home on the bus....ready to be home!

Me, Erich, and our cousin Laura

My furry son, Geo, and me! I was so happy he remembered me!

The rest of my time in California was spent working my last 3 days, packing, and saying farewell! A HUGE thank you to those who helped my load the moving truck and to all my friends out west who made this last year of my life very memorable! I wish I had time to see you all personally and say goodbye, but I'm sure we'll meet again one day.

Some of the lovely ladies who I got to know while working in Fresno

I ran into Lima and Musso on one of my last nights and got to say (a drunken) goodbye! Also said toodles to Shrum to whom I owe some fun coastal trips to!

Me and Adam ( who I know will probably miss Echo the cat more than me :P)

And yes... I rented and drove my own 16ft moving truck hauling my car cross country in 3.5 days. What'd you do this week?

On the Road again

Hello again!

I am back in California from my much needed vacation home and am in the final stretch of packing and will leave CA on July 19!!!! Due to already packing up most of my stuff, I have no way of getting my pictures from my camera to here.....so......I anticipate a massive post circa end of July all about my trip back home and my move back eastward! (assuming I get the internet up and running without a hitch!)

Wish me luck!

Hannah

Oh the places I've been!

Where do I even start?! I slack in updating and then I wind up with a whopper to throw at you all! Well....Here we go!

My friend Adam (also a midwesterner by trade!) convinced me to join him and his friends in a trip to Disneyland....and who can refuse one of the happiest places on Earth?! Granted I took some convincing to go as I didn't want to intrude on his posse of peeps, but ultimately, I gave in - am I'm glad I did! We had a great time and the weather was perfect! Unlike last time, it didn't take us 6 hours to get down to LA! We got super lucky with all the rides and our lines weren't long at all. I couldn't convince them to go see the Michael Jackson Captain EO tribute (to which only Laura and Emily know the true glory of from the previous Disney trip) and I'm pretty sure i embarrassed everyone with my rousing (and loud) public rendition of Aladdin's "A Whole New World" - but hey :) That's just who I am!

Stupid hat time!

No pictures for this next part.... But I got to see 2 shows at the SaveMart center here (equivalent to Van Andel over in GR!) I saw Cirque du Soliel, Alegria and Star Wars in concert! Sounds cheesy, yes, but they were soooo much fun! I felt incredibly unathletic after watching Cirque (Mom - why didn't you put in in gymnastics as a child!? hehe) and Star Wars was just flat out entertaining! It's cool to hear an orchestra that sounds just like the movie you forget they're even there! Definitely a step up from all my band memories in High School (which by the way, mom and dad, thank you for sitting through all those concerts because, compared to this, we sounded awful!)

June 11-13 I flew into Milwaukee for an interview there at the Chldren's Hospital. In attempts to sneak around my current job to be all hush hush - I took a red eye flight in. Man was that rough! Why is there ALWAYS a crying baby? I mean really? It's bad enough to have them on midday flights, but c'mon parents... a 3am flight where you know people are trying to sleep? Why does it seem like only stupid people procreate? Anyways. Lots of coffee later, I dazzled my interviewers and finally got a well deserved nap! Nick came in to explore the city with me to see if Milwaukee would be a good fit for me ( a must as I feel like I didn't get to explore Fresno when I interviewed out here and that may have definitely swayed my opinion...*please review former posts about the charms of Fresno as a reference). We went downtown to the Riverwalk where we hunted down "The Bronze Fonz", we went to a MLB Brewer's game, and we sent to the SafeHouse spy bar (quite possibly the COOLEST place ever built!). There's a secret entrance and exit and little tricks hidden all around the bar (such as nude Tom Selleck in the women's bathroom! ooh lala!) I took the job in WI - so when you all come visit me (which I know you will as it's significantly closer than CA) I'll take you there!

Nick and the Fonz

At the game! I didn't get the "wear Brewer's blue" memo.

It started raining on the game - so they shut the top cover! Kinda cool to see happen! The Brewer's lost :( But I guess people don't care as long as they're drunk!

Here I am making my way through the hidden exit of the Safe House!

Phew - still going! I never got to officially see Yosemite (as it was all smokey the last time I tried to go up and didn't quite make it all the way to the Valley) so my friend Bryan took me up there so I could see it before I left. It was very crowded, but I could see why! It was so beautiful! Definitely worth seeing at least once in your life (and pulled on my heart strings when I remember my decision to leave California behind! But then I remembered, there are beautiful places all over the world and that is just one of many stops along the trip of my life!) Here's some photos of that!

Me and the "classic" view of Yosemite - It looked just like a painting!

This is by Lower Yosemite Falls. It's amazing I didn't trip on all the wet rocks and break my neck!

Finally this weekend - as it was my last real full weekend in California, Adam and I d=took a road trip down to Six Flags! Our day looked like it was starting out rough as a few coasters broke right as we got up to the front of the line...but it turned out to be ok and we rode everything we wanted too! Six Flags is a bit of an advertisement overload, but they had some GREAT coasters! Our favorites were the new X2 - which was complete with individual speakers for music, flames, and fog as well as the seats rotated and pitched 360 degrees independant of what the main track was doing! It was crazy!!! And then Tatsu which after you sat down it hoisted you back so you were belly down and "flying." So worth it! It must have been intense as I felt jostled by the end of the day and I'm normally a hardcore coaster fiend!!!! The next day, since we were down there, we went to Santa Barbara and the coast. It's a very cute coastal town (like most of them out here!) but it was a bit cloudy so we didn't get the "lay out on the beach" day we had hoped for. We ate some seafood and drove a bit along the Pacific Coast Highway on our way home. Overall, I can't complain - it was a fun-filled way to end my time here!

Cloudy Santa Barbara from the pier - if we take a trip down memory lane, we'll realize that most of my coastal photos are cloudy! California - you have some explaining to do!?! Land of all sunshine my ass....

The rest of this week includes packing - them my trip home to GR starts Friday night (another red eye flight..... ugh). I'll spend a few days of my trip to look for an apartment in WI before I head back out here for my last 3 days of work and final packing countdown! Wish me luck!!!! See you all soon!

A lot's happened in 3 weeks!

Just a quick update- I'll make a longer one once I finally upload some photos of course! (hopefully by next weekend - sorry to leave you all hanging!)

1) I got to go to Disneyland - again! Fun times!!!

2) I survived my trip to Milwaukee despite a red eye flight and an 8am interview (and - SPOILER ALERT - I was offered the position and will be saying au revior to Cali)

3) In a last ditch effort to see what California has to offer, I went to Yosemite (finally!)

It's been crazy busy times and my emotions have been all over the place with the big decision I had to make!!! Stay tuned for a more in depth approach to my last 3 weeks!!!

I've taken more showers in a third world country than I did in NYC...

I'm back from New York and lived to tell the tale! It was (like most of my adventures lately) it was a trip I won't be forgetting anytime soon....

It'd been about 5 years I think since I last saw my friend Robin and, although we had fun, we were both aware that our lives had taken us in different directions so it was a little awkward at times. I stayed with her and her 4 roommates in their eccentric artsy loft in Brooklyn. It was once a pickle factory and Robin's room was the elevator shaft...

The part of Brooklyn where she lives is a very trendy part of town and I don't think I've ever seen so many hipsters centrally located in one area. Not necessarily my crowd of choice to hang out with but I had the experience of going to a dinner party where I met a girl with a tampon-firecracker tattoo (explanation: she goes off once a month) and another with her cat's alter ego. So, friends and family, you are no longer ever allowed to give me crap about my tattoos ever again :) I also went to a techno warehouse party where I'm pretty sure I was the only one not on drugs...including the bouncer as I was able to sneak in and not pay the cover (thank god because it was SOOOOO totally not worth it).

Some of my favorite parts of the trip was when we rode bicycles through the city to go eat brunch. It was a really cool way to see the city. And at once point in time I was able to head off on my own and it was in a way liberating to know that I could find my way around the big apple by my self! Robin isn't too keen on the touristy stuff in New York so I got to see the stuff she likes to go to often and she still humored me one day and let me see Central Park, Rockefeller Plaza, Coney Island, Little Italy, Chinatown, museum row, Times Square, Statue of Liberty etc!

As far as the title of this blog goes....the bathroom in Robin's loft was NASTY (like "my name ain't baby - it's Janet. Ms. Jackson if you're nasty" nasty!) Everytime I went in there there was about 4 inches of stagnant water that never drained and had a brownish hue to it (reminiscent of diarrhea water to me - sorry for that visual!). So the first shower I took was on my 3rd day there (Saturday morning) when we spent the night at Robin's guy friends apt and he had a nice place. The 2nd (if you can even call it that) was on the Tuesday morning before I left. I was in desperate need of a good hairwashing (as you can imagine) so I managds to just duck my head under the faucet. After that - I climbed the edge of the tub (with flip flops, mind you!) and straddled the diarrhea water in attempts to wash my body. After the fact I realized that pretty much everyone working out in the gym across the street saw my awkward naked exhibition shower show as there are no curtains in the bathroom.... Sweet.

I met a lot of cool people though, like Robin's friend Steph-who took us to a tenement museum, Nate-who changes the scoreboard at Fenway Park, and Shawn-a sassy australian who is just traveling for the sake of traveling. It never ceases to amaze me all the different kinds of people you meet in the world!

Anyways! Here are some photos of my trip!

The skyline! We didn't have great weather on my trip, but oh well! It's happens!

Steph, Robin, and I after the tenement museum.

Empire State Building at night!

Some of the peeps I met hanging out playing pool at a bar after the odd party.

Eating a cannoli in Little Italy Yum Yum!

Cupcakes outside the famous Magnolia bakery (Featured in Sex and the City is what I'm told!)

Time Square (advertisement overload)

Getting ready to cycle the city!

More food! Eating one of the greatest burgers ever at the Shake Shake! I really need to start working out again after this trip!

Robin, Shawn, Christine, and I killing time at night.

A very sad and run down Coney Island.

Robin's elevator shaft (complete with gears on the wall still!)

I have plenty more pictures so let me know if you want to see anything else! In addition to this trip I've been keeping busy. Before I left I went to a Tiki party with friends (where I ended up gracefully breaking a screen door by running face first into it!) and since I've been back, one of my friends took me to see a Cirque du Soleil show here! If you haven't heard yet, I'll be back in Michigan July 3-13 so I'll see you all soon! Bye!

Apologies for the massive delay!

The moment you've all been waiting for! An actual update on that I've been doing!

Last you heard I had gone to the Monterey Bay Aquarium and fell in love with that little coastal city! I liked it so much I went back again with friends (I think that was April 16 and 17 - but I can't be sure! Everything's been a blur!) For once, I had a trip that went off without a hitch. My only recommendation to you all, if you ever make the drive, make sure the driver's car has a working stereo.... This trip was spent hiking in Point Lobos State Reserve. Again - we had gorgeous weather and even prettier scenery. Plus I was completely smitten by all the baby seals! Here's a bunch of photos from that adventure!

Lots of cute little baby seals! Spring is in the air! They were hilarious to watch since they kept getting stuck in the tide and couldn't get ashore for the longest time.

I thought I could climb this tree...I couldn't. Tree 1, Hannah 0.

It wasn't all coastal views - there were treks in the woods too - this was one of the nicer/easier paths.

Tell me this isn't gorgeous!

Phew - Then the next weekend was when the biggest adventure of the month occurred. DISNEYLAND!!! For those of you who didn't know, my sister-in-law had come out to LA for business and brought her friend along for the ride! At the end of the week, I was able to meet them both down there to hit up the happiest place on Earth - which was very nice as it's almost been a year since seeing any family! Anyways....

I thought I was all savvy by sweet talking my way out of work early so that I would arrive in the evening instead of midnight! Mistake number 1... I left work at 1 pm to make the supposed 4 hour drive. If you do the math in your head (unlike me) you'll realize that that time puts me in LA right at rush hour. Needless to say, my 4 hour drive turned into a 6 hour one quickly (or actually very very excruciatingly slow), But I finally made it and I can say that I have conquered the worst of LA! Bring it on California!

We just hit up Downtown Disney for a good meal and some shopping Friday night saving the parks for Saturday. In a nutshell - I had a BLAST! We were hootin' and hollerin' the whole time making the best of the day! My voice was actually froggish for a week after the trip (which I not only attribute to being way too loud and rambunctious, but also to the terrible air quality out here!) Favorite attraction? Hard to say but Michael Jackson's Captain EO has to be near the top of the list just due to the ridiculous 1980's nature! The lines weren't too bad at all which I thank Disney guru and saint Laura for knowing the best order to hit the park up. The only problem with the trip - it made me terribly homesick! So that means more people need to come out here to visit - you know you want to! My door is open! Until then - enjoy more photos!

Emily and I outside the (little- compared to DisneyWorld!) Castle. Sleeping Beauty sooo got the shaft on this one.

Here I am making a letter 'H' outside California Adventure. Represent!

Mr. Toads wild ride (The rides at Disney are a lot chintzier than I remember - adding to the fun!)

Us beautiful ladies looking fierce in line to one of the many 3-D attractions.

I realized Disney hires amazing marketing people...there is so much crap you can buy, and people fork over the cash for it!

Goofy!

That was my trip in a nutshell! Hope you enjoyed. In theory I should be adding all my Disney photos onto Facebook so Laura and Emily can steal the ones they want, but we'll see how long that might take me! Oops! Stay tuned for my next trip in about a week and a half to NYC!

Love you all! Take care.

It's been a while!

Wow I've been slacking big time everyone! I'm sorry! I am going to try my hardest to get a post up by Monday! I need to share pictures from my second trip to Monterey and then Disney!

Life in California has been keeping me busy to say the least! I will update you all soon!

Hannah