I Carry Your Heart

As you may have noticed, Gerrit did some interior blog design. The picture in the header is from our first official date on May 16, 2006. We went to dinner and then to the lake at sunset. The words are from a poem by e.e. cummings. I used this poem in a scrapbook I made for Gerrit and it has become a favorite of ours. The full poem is as follows:

i carry your heart with me (i carry it in
my heart) i am never without it (anywhere
i go you go, my dear; and whatever is done
by only me is your doing, my darling)
i fear
no fate (for you are my fate, my sweet) i want
no world (for beautiful you are my world, my true)
and it's you are whatever a moon has always meant
and whatever a sun will always sing is you

here is the deepest secret nobody knows
(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud
and the sky of the sky of a tree called life; which grows
higher than the soul can hope or mind can hide)
and this is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart

i carry your heart (i carry it in my heart)

New Hair. New Woman.

Well, I did it. I got my hair chopped off. What brought this on, you ask? Gerrit has said before that I would look cute with short hair. Of course, I was hesitant because of the 5+ years of my childhood that I looked like a boy. Sometimes I still see that person staring back at me in the mirror. I worried that if I got my hair cut even to my chin that I wouldn't look like a female anymore. But I decided that maybe my face is more feminine now than it was in Jr. High. So, here it is, my new look:So, I think I still look like a girl. What do you think? This is my new grown-up hair. Hopefully this will be help me with getting a grown-up job. I really like it so far and I still feel feminine. As Shania Twain says, "Man, I feel like a woman!"

Girls Night Out in England!

Last weekend, a few of us girls went out to a British pub and eatery for Jess' and Brittany's birthdays. We definitely enjoyed the cuisine. I myself had a Cornish pastie....whatever that is. Very tasty. It was great to be together since we haven't all hung out in quite a while. There always seems to be someone missing, which is sad because I love these girls! Lately I've been thinking about what a weird time of life we're all in. Some of us are job searching. Others are getting ready to start new jobs. Mandy and Rachel just got back this summer from year long teaching jobs in foreign countries. Brittany will be leaving in a year for a four year(!!!!!) missions trip to Ukraine. It seems everyone is going through a transition period of some kind. Who warned us that life after college would be this way? No one! What now? I'm glad God knows what's going on. Anyway....other than the taste of life confusion in the air, it was a good time.

Our New Apartment!

Gerrit and I recently moved to a new place. So far, we've really liked it. It's closer to Gerrit's job, which is nice; and it's a bit bigger than our last apartment. The best part is...no mice!!!! What a luxury! I'm going to add some pictures for those of you who can't come see it yet. I love the closet space. There are 3 closets in the bedroom! Gerrit and I don't even have to share. That was something we lacked in the last apartment, so I'm really enjoying all the storage space. We're still settling in a bit, but so far we're very comfortable here!

I Went to WI Dells and All I Got Was This Sunburn

We just got back from Wisconsin Dells! We went there with a few friends (the Schultz's, Matt W. and Steve K.) to celebrate our one year wedding anniversary. It was an action packed weekend. Since we wanted to make the most of our time there, we packed as many activities into the days as possible. Our first activity was the Torture Museum. Basically, the museum took the visitor through the history, techniques, and mechanisms of torture (it wasn't as brutal as it sounds!). Next we went to this awesome pirate themed mini-golf course which was right next to our hotel. The 5 separate courses were filled with flowers and waterfalls. It was actually quite beautiful.
Saturday was my favorite day and one I've been looking forward to all summer. We went to Noah's Ark waterpark! It was a bit chilly to start the day, which actually worked in our favor because it kept the lines down. We went on nearly every ride we could and enjoyed every minute. It felt like we were ten again--being SO excited to ride the rides and screaming the whole way down. We were wiped out by the end of the day. We all felt kind of icky from the sun. The next day we all woke up bright red and aching. Sadly, I have no pictures of the time spent there because our camera is obviously not water friendly. I do, however, have this picture of Gerrit's sunburn. It's worse in real life.
On Sunday we slept in and then went to Paul Bunyan's for brunch. For those who are not familiar, the food is all you can eat camp style food and is soooooo good. I think we overdid it. We felt kind of icky after that too.The rest of the day was spent doing random activities like swimming and doing touristy things. But after dinner was one of the highlights. We were on the lookout for ice cream, but ended up finding a fabulous candy shop in the middle of this little "German" village. Again, we became ten-year-olds. The candy shop had candy there I haven't seen since I was little (like candy cigarettes! I wasn't allowed to have them when I was little, so I guess I rebelled this weekend. Shhhh. Don't tell!)I was sad to leave, but ready to relax. Hopefully the burns will heal soon!

An Iowa Wedding

This past weekend, we had the pleasure of going to a wedding of some good friends. John (who has been friends with Gerrit since high school) and Emily got married in northern Iowa on a gorgeous day. The ceremony was lovely, the bride was beautiful (of course!), the groom was handsome and fun was had by all! Here are some pictures of the day:
I took this last picture right outside the church. This is what I remember seeing on road trips to see my extended family. I love Iowa! I really do! I have fond memories of family reunions there. I wish I could have seen everyone this time around. :(

Here he is...

...Champion of my heart.