Friday, August 24, 2007
the wedding of the year
A week ago my brother was preparing to be married. Last Saturday was the big day, but the bachelor/bachelorette parties started on Thursday and the festivities continued through Sunday. I was home all week, so I was able to be involved in the pre-wedding set-up. Not that there was much left by the time I was home; Mary (the bride) was so organized that almost everything was done already!
Wednesday, August 15, 2007
Growing Up
I’m home again for a little “vacation,” but it’s one of the busier ones I’ve ever had. Not only am I happily involved in preparations for my brother’s wedding (which is in three days!!), I’m also trying to get all of my stuff either packed up or put in the “yard sale” pile so that when I move into my house in Grand Rapids next week I am really moved out of my parents’ house. It’s kind of sad really. I guess I’m all grown up, or at least I’m doing a pretty good job of pretending. Besides that, I’m trying to buy a car while I’m here. In fact, I’ll be “going to see a guy about a car” (for real, but it is pretty cliche) in about an hour.
Friday, August 03, 2007
a day at work
I know that my faithful readers are wondering just what exactly I’ve been doing all summer at work, so I thought I’d try to give you an idea through a series of pictures from the Calvin Admissions Office this summer. We’ve had a lot of fun, putting personality and character into our work.
The summer Admissions Assistants: Merideth, An, Keisha, Rachel, Amos, Amma, Me, Mic, and Alex
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
finding a place
This is the first summer that I have not lived at home. All the summers that I have worked I have done so at a day care that was within biking distance of my house, so I was near home, saw my family every day, hung out with high school friends most evenings, and I knew where I belonged. This summer for the first time I have been for the most part on my own. I live with my grandparents, so I do have a home to go to at the end of the day, good food prepared for me, and beloved people to eat it with, but it has still been an exercise in finding my place.
Sunday, July 15, 2007
a time at home
Gas is really expensive right now, so it’s nice that I don’t have a car to refuel every so often. Going home is my personal refueling. I was home for a week to celebrate the birthdays of two friends and the 4th of July, and it was such a great time for me. Relaxing, refreshing, invigorating.
Friday, July 13, 2007
a bridal shower
My brother is getting married in August, and I am very excited. His fiance, Mary, is such a great person for him to spend his life with and she fits into our family so well. Plus, she’s just really likeable. She had a bridal shower in Cedar Rapids, our hometown, early in the summer but my mom’s side of the family all lives in Grand Rapids, MI, and wanted to be able to give her a shower too. So a couple of weeks ago we all gathered at one of the home of one of my aunts for a shower. All of the aunts and female cousins from my mom’s side of the family were there, along with Mary and her mom.
Monday, July 02, 2007
not for the faint-hearted
WARNING: Do not read this if you are empathetic and don’t have enough money to buy me chocolate…
Now that the disclaimer is out of the way, I’d like to tell you about a little traveling adventure I had last week. In all my European travels I never had an experience quite like this one. A week ago last Wednesday I flew to Florida unexpectedly. My dear Grandfather passed away on Monday, and I would not even have considered missing his funeral. He was a wonderful man, always encouraging me to be the best that I could be and offering any aid I needed along the way. I have a great dad, and that is because he had a great dad for an example. So on Monday night I needed to buy a plane ticket to Florida. I had already decided that I wouldn’t leave until Wednesday (the computer had told me that it was impossible to buy tickets online for a flight on Tuesday, so the decision was not a difficult one).
Monday, June 18, 2007
tunnel park
The last beach I was on was Paradise Beach on Santorini in Greece. If you’ve been following my blogs, you know that was in October of 2006. Since it is now mid-June of 2007, I decided it was about time to hit the beach once more. On Saturday my friend Lindsey’s younger brother, Jalen, (you might remember them from the extreme croquet entry) had a baseball tournament in Holland, MI. Because Ann Arbor, where their family lives, is about three hours from Holland, and Jalen’s first game was at 8 a.m., Lindsey’s family stayed in Grand Rapids with her grandparents on Friday night.
Monday, June 11, 2007
Festival of the Arts
Every June Grand Rapids celebrates the beginning of summer and the cultural diversity within the city with a Festival of the Arts. My friend Emma and I decided to check it out last weekend, and we definitely liked what we saw. There is so much to see and do at the Festival. To begin with there are 19 different food vendors, and none of them are selling the same things. There are Thai, Chinese, Lebanese, Greek, Dutch, and American foods (and I know there were others too, but I can’t remember them all).
Tuesday, May 29, 2007
extreme croquet
Unless you know my friends the Boumas, or are equally into crazy fun sports, you’ve probably never played extreme croquet. It’s a game they made up, but it is based off the very mild and cultured game of croquet (of course). This game is a bit different though.
Wednesday, May 23, 2007
ending the semester
I spent a lot of time this past semester hanging out with three girls from my floor: Patience, Liz, and Eunji. We like to do things with flair. I mean, we have matching toe nail polish. We go all out. But really, who doesn’t like to be fun and creative? So when it came time to end the semester and say goodbye, we knew it couldn’t be anything too simple.
Monday, May 07, 2007
special olympics
On Saturday I participated in something I have never done before: the Special Olympics. Mind you, I was a chaperone, not an athelete. But it was still a neat thing to participate in. The atheletes were really good at their events, and showed incredible courage and enthusiasm. If only I could apply that to my life these days…
Friday, May 04, 2007
signing a lease
There are those defining moments in your life when you think to yourself, “I am growing up.” I had one of those moments on Tuesday evening, around 5:30. I signed my first lease. I’m going to be a renter.
Sunday, April 29, 2007
Displace Me
Last night (Saturday, April 28) was a nation-wide effort to raise awareness about the horrible living conditions caused by the 21-year war in northern Uganda. This event, called Displace Me, occured in 15 US cities and over 67,000 people participated. I was one of them. I traveled to Soldier Field in Chicago, the nearest Displace Me city, with seven other students from my dorm. There were over 5,000 people there in the parking lot where we set up a simulated displacement camp for the night. These pictures don’t do justice to the amount of people who were there, but at least they give you an idea of the magnitude of this event.
Thursday, April 19, 2007
changing my major
They say something like 2/3 of college students change their major at least once. This is one of those things, however, that isn’t easier because “everyone else is doing it.” I’ve been wrestling with the idea of changing my major for a while now, and I’ve finally decided to do it.
About Me
My life at Calvin College
Name:
Emily MacLeod
Class of 2009
Hometown:
Cedar Rapids, IA
Major:
English
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