February 28th, 2011 (Day 59)

I haven't been home to my apartment in so long with dog sitting and then visiting my dad's. I missed it so much! I came home tonight to find Jess and Casey here. Corinne was missing, but we honored her fake presence with this random corn candle she brought to the apartment.



Casey and Jess gnar-ring Corinne in spirit. It's good to be home.

February 27th, 2011 (Day 58)

Today, there was a lot of planning for a potential road trip for June of this year!



Destinations would include...
Chattanooga, TN
New Orleans, LA
Austin, TX
Santa Fe, NM
Denver, CO
Chicago, IL

I really really hope it pans out! This, along with Natalie Portman winning the Oscar for Best Actress of the year, pretty much made my day awesome. And spending all day with Annmarie was awesome and much needed!

February 26th, 2011 (Day 57)

I ended my 10 days of dogsitting this evening. I came home to visit my baby boy. I really missed him!
This might be my first self portrait in this photo blog so far!

February 25th, 2011 (Day 56)

Here is a sneak peak into my life as an intern. I'm at my internship 16 hours a week, so it has very much become a part of my regular weekly routine.
Today we were at maximum capacity after a bit of a dry spell of having absolutely no kids! We had 6 kids and 3 staff members (plus me) in the house and the two bosses in their office (connected to the house). Somehow I was paired up with the newest resident, a 13 year old boy who is very shy and antisocial. He likes Elliott Smith, Cat Power, Neutral Milk Hotel, and Ingrid Michaelson. We got along pretty well. A good chunk of my day today was spent just the two of us, as he preferred to stay away from the bigger group. He read his book and I sat there wishing I had brought mine to read!

February 24th, 2011 (Day 55)

I love Grey's Anatomy. It is my favorite show, by far. I'm too invested in some of these characters!

I love Thursday nights!

February 23rd, 2011 (Day 54)

I bought my very first pair of Toms shoes today. I've been wanting them for so long. Thank you Corinne for getting me your 40% off discount to buy them!

I can't wait until all of the snow has melted and I can actually wear them! These are practical shoes, now I am jonesing for a pair of fun/whacky printed ones!

February 22nd, 2011 (Day 53)

I went to Trader Joe's for the first time ever over the weekend. I picked up a few interesting things to try.



Tonight I had the shiitake mushroom and tofu stirfry type meal over rice. I want to like tofu but this tofu was not good. I'm not sure if it was because it was frozen and then cooked or if I just don't like the texture and consistency of tofu period. I will try regular fresh (nonfrozen) tofu though and give it another chance!

February 21st, 2011 (Day 52)

I cannot believe how much snow we got over night. I had only heard that we were going to get 4 inches or so. I measured it today and it was 11 inches in some parts but most were drafty and even deeper than that. I was not a happy camper.


I had to seriously shovel for the first time in my life. It took me over an hour just to shovel this part of the driveway to free my car, which was incredibly trapped. The snow was so heavy and packed down, it was torturous.

I'm so ready for spring!

February 20th, 2011 (Day 51)

I got to see Lauren, my mom, and baby boy when they came over to visit me today. Oliver and Piper had fun playing.

All the pictures I got of them playing are ridiculously blurry. They wouldn't sit still for a second. So this will have to do, even though it is really blurry as well!

February 19th, 2011 (Day 50)

My grandma is really cool. She heard about this place called Pewabic Pottery that is located in Detroit! It is basically a pottery studio that displays beautiful artwork. On Saturdays, they have a bunch of clay bowls that pottery students donate and a bunch of soup that local restaurants donate. The general public is welcome to come and pick out a handcrafted bowl and get a free bowl of soup for a donation. All the donations go to Detroit soup kitchens/food pantries. I thought it was the coolest thing!

The outside of Pewabic Pottery.

An amazing globe that I just loved.

Tea set, even the place mat was made out of clay.

The beautiful green bowl that I picked out!

February 18th, 2011 (Day 49)

Today marks day 1 out of 10 where I will be staying at my cousins' house and watching their scraggly little Westie girl named Piper. I affectionately refer to her as Pippy. I was quite annoyed because the drive from my cousins' house to my work is about double the commute time from my apartment to work. I was dreading driving there three times next week. Well, surprise! I don't work at all next week because DPS has Midwinter Break and tutoring will have a week break as well. I will have some free time this week to just hang out and cuddle the Pipster...

Here is Pippy wishing everyone a goodnight!

February 17th, 2011 (Day 48)

A guest appearance was made tonight by the lovely Miss Annie tonight.


Automatically equals a good night!

February 16th, 2011 (Day 47)

I had a fun Skype session with the sister over lunch today. We had both gotten out of the shower which is why our hair looks wet.

I miss my sister!

February 15th, 2011 (Day 46)

I just noticed today how much older Obama looks, especially compared to when he first became president. I guess all that stress can do it to you! I think he is doing a good job though.


I don't pretend like I know a lot about politics, but everything he said in his speech today sounded good to me!

February 14th, 2011 (Day 45)

Today was Valentines Day. Happy Valentines Day!

I got the blood and life sucked out of me at the doctor's office. Quite fitting, I thought, to start off my Valentines Day.

Then, I had tea (and lunch) at my grandma's house. It was good to see her.

Then, I visited my good friend Annmarie and her cute dog, Fiona. Fiona was dressed for the day in her pink dress.

Overall, the day was a success.

February 13th, 2011 (Day 44)

The best part of my day was spending hours on HGTV's website picking out my favorite designer rooms for my imaginary dream house.



By far my favorite kitchen. This picture doesn't show how green the walls are. It is awesome!

February 12th, 2011 (Day 43)

Today I celebrated being half way to my 45 weight loss goal by indulging in homemade s'mores bars.

So delicious.

February 11th, 2011 (Day 42)

Today at work, the kids were doing some math problems and I was just sitting with a calculator waiting to check over their work. Before I knew it, I had written this. I was thinking, what am I, 10 years old again?


It just made me laugh. It is so stupid, yet I did this without even thinking. My juvenile moment of the day.

February 10th, 2011 (Day 41)

Wine openers look just like people...little people dancing.

February 9th, 2011 (Day 40)

Tomorrow I will find out if I got a new job. Today was strange and interesting. We shall see! I kind of have a gut feeling that it will be a "no" but I would like it to work out! I'm very anxious and curious to know what tomorrow will bring.

Tonight there was a nice gathering at my apartment. Friends went to the Red Wings game. I couldn't go because I had to work, but they came over after with pizza and beer...which I couldn't consume. But I enjoyed their company. You can see foreign Polish Gabi's weird socks in the corner,...Cody putting a mostly empty marinara side container on Jess' foot which she is comparing to Lauren's foot because apparently their feet could be twins. This captured randomness represents my strange friends well.

All the day was missing was seeing my Annie Banannie!

February 8th, 2011 (Day 39)

I have my Social Work Practice Methods 2 class on Tuesday nights. The professor is really passionate about social work and is just really energetic and inspiring.

She makes poor fashion choices though. She wore this really strange fur hat for the entire (nearly) 3 hour class period. Every time I would look at her it looked like she had an afro, proof:

Also, she makes arranges the classroom every day before we get there so that the chairs are in a circle. She is so hippie-dippy but I secretly love it!

February 7th, 2011 (Day 38)

This picture sums up my crappy day pretty well.

February 6th, 2011 (Day 37)

Happy alternative superbowl party 2011!

February 5th, 2011 (Day 36)

Today was the real Snowpocalypse. We got so much snow and it was unexpected. The roads were horrid, I've never been so afraid driving. I took me 90 minutes to make a 45 minute drive and I was so nervous the entire time I was driving. There was so much snow in the streets, you couldn't see the lines to mark the lanes or anything. I just couldn't believe how much snow came down so quickly.The dogs are pretty much buried in the snow. It is funny to watch them jump around in it since it is so hard for them to walk in snow this deep!

February 4th, 2011 (Day 35)

Another glimpse at my job as a tutor.
It can be SO hard sometimes because these kids, for the most part, are SO behind where they are supposed to be. Detroit Public Schools has a bad reputation for a reason. I feel for them though. Hopefully their time at tutoring will really help them out.

February 3rd, 2011 (Day 34)

Sometimes I wish I was religious just so I could hang out in gorgeous churches.Yet another part of Detroit I love.

February 2nd, 2011 (Day 33)

So, the Snowpocalypse wasn't that big of a deal. We didn't get as much snow as they predicted. Still, snowday!

Blowing snow.

The "after" view from my window.

Oh, and did I mention? Gabi is home from Poland for 10 days!

February 1st, 2011 (Day 32)

The Snowpocalypse is impending! Here is the view outside my bedroom window as a little "before" shot. We'll see what it looks like tomorrow! They're saying 12-16 inches. We haven't gotten that much snow in a while (thankfully). Blah. Hate snow!

Life before the Snowpocalypse.