No one that went today is a fan of sports really. But the 4 of us still piled into my car and headed out to a whitecaps game just to get out and about and be social. Truly it was an opportunity for Dan and Sherry to meet Chris.

It was sunny but chilly, and full of a somewhat boring sport. So everyone was entertained by talking books, philosophy, old flames, and other random topics. The entire time no one really watched the game. Hell I dont even remember all the rules to baseball. I honestly think Sherry is the only one who watched any plays.

After a few innings it was really too cold, so we headed back to my apartment to hang and talk a bit longer. All in all a good night.

The summer is winding down and that means that the Michigan Renaissance Festival is kicked off and in full swing.

This year it was a full group. Kati and her Family were there, though I didn't get a chance to spend much time with them as seems to typically happen each year. My parents, cousins, Amanda, and I invited Chris along to scope out the shindig.

It was a good day - unusually cool. So cool in fact that Nathan wore a cape with his sweater vest. Those Junes are ever doing their own thing with fashion.

So here's a shot of one of the birds from the birds of prey demo. I'm not going to lie - I've forgotten which bird this is. I want to say falcon but that may not be right. :/

It was a lazy Saturday. I had designs to do all kinds of things. Cleaning, cooking, organizing, catching up on projects, etc. And instead I took a nap all afternoon, snuggled around Leki. Totally worth it though.

I did get out for a bit in the morning to pick up some supplies, get gas, etc for the ren fest the next day. While out driving I ran across this sign and had to snap a photo.

Tonight Chris invited me over to hang with him and Adam and Comfort for a movie night. Prior to that, however, he offered to make me dinner.

So he made a cheeseburger for himself and some mostacholi for me.

I'm working on stealth photography, can you tell? :P

This week Sherry and Dan had new carpet installed in their apartment. This meant they had to move everything out and then back in. They took advantage of this event and purchased some new book shelves and shower curtains (what Sherry is messing with).

After they were done settling in I got to hang out with them, chit chat about random things
.

Just as a side note they picked up this strangely addictive ball with liquid and glitter inside (like a snowglobe) and I spent an hour, I'm sure, messing around with it.

Tonight was a charity event (Children With AIDS Benefit) at the local concert venue Intersection. Apparently Chris has some co-workers that have been training and will be climbing Mt Kilimanjaro.

The night was pretty fun. Lots of interesting bands which included Twice Since Yesterday (which featured one of Chris' co-workers), Liz Larin (interesting nearly all 1-woman show and local to Metro Detroit I believe), The Outer Vibe (local GR band), and was headlined by Brian VanderArk (Verve Pipe).

All in all the night was great, and even had some fun discussing a poster in the woman's bathroom. I took issue with the I am strong etc etc comments on her face followed by the fine print from the right to life organization and completely overlooked the glaring headline Chris pointed out - "Some Choices Are Not Worthy of A Woman." The weird thing - I totally thought it was about domestic violence at first.

Tonight I partook of a fabulous event known as Bad Movie Night. Not unlike the old Mystery Science Theater 3000, there was an audience that screened a bad film and interjected amusing, snarky comments. The film was The Room. If you ever have a chance to watch this film - dont. It is terrible. Its history is amusing and I cannot do it justice in telling it as good as Adam (The Uniques) does. Just read up on it. All I can say is that the film is designed to deliver a message to an ex-girlfriend....

So here is a shot of Adam & Comfort's cat (The Uniques), Obi-wan and the dvd menu of The Room. Not the greatest shot - this one is better. At the very least it shows everyone's amusement.

Today Dan and I hung out for a bit, chatting about various topics as we often do, ranging from relationships to conspiracy theories. He even went through his quest?ON deck designed to evoke creative though on various topics. It's a pretty interesting process to watch.

After all that we wandered to Moes for dinner and then off to the bookstore. So here's a shot of Dan scoping out one of the books in the New Age section (we always seem to wander over into this general area).

The last exam for the last class was today. So here's a shot of the laptop software after I was all done (only 3 classes cause I work full time).

Its an interesting experience, taking an exam on a laptop. I mean, I appreciate the ability to organize your thoughts and essay easier than written in a bluebook but at the same time I have this fear of the exam not being received while submitted (as it is done wirelessly) or that the computer will crash and cost me valuable time rewriting everything into a bluebook.


Of course these things did not occur, and all is good. Well, outside one of the mouse buttons breaking on the laptop the day before the finals started...but thats ok.

So Sunday was good. It was great to go out to eat at IHOP in the morning. I'm pretty sure the last time I did a breakfast thing was a year ago when Kati and John helped me move. After the exam was relaxing as well - sitting around checking out Defying gravity and doing nothing much.

I'm defintely looking forward to the next two weeks of no classes. And lets just pretend there isnt homework due on the first day of class, k?

After the second final today I came home and started up the bread machine. Its perfect for crafting tasty home made pizza (as well as home-made loafs and other bread-like products - imagine that! :P)

Since I was feeding Chris I made two different kinds. A heavy meat pizza for him on the left and a buffalo chicken pizza (to which I have become strangely addicted to) on the right.

They were pretty tasty. :)

Today marks the first day of finals for the semester. So while attempting to get some last minute studying in Leki took it upon himself to take advantage of the situation. Namely, lay across every single item that may hold interest and demand my affection.

So in this shot he's lying on my chest napping. And here he is spread across my lap in order to impede my reading and writing. And lastly spread out on the couch here trying to prevent me from flipping through papers.

Its been awhile since I've been out and about on my bike. Lately its been hiking if I've got the time. So since today was the first day in a long (4 day) weekend I thought I would snatch up the opportunity before it started to rain and I had to get studying for finals.

So I rode the paved part of the Paul Henry Trail near my old apartment (unfortunately they trail was closed south of Shaffer/52nd).

While riding along I ran across a random cluster of mushrooms popping up in an otherwise meticulously groomed grassy area. So left is a closeup of a few mushrooms. There are additional shots here and here.

In other news, today marks the first day Leki snagged a bird. He's an indoor cat who discovered he could punch through the screen, snag a sparrow, and try to come back inside. I suppose thats what I get for falling asleep on the couch.

Tonight I hung out with a few of Chris' friends and participated in their ritual game night event.

One of his friends had purchased a bunch of games at GenCon, including one called BANG! There were others, of course such as Incan Gold. Unfortunately I cannot remember the name of the most interesting and complex of all 3...

So here's a shot of Adam (comic lover? check out The Uniques by Adam Withers & Comfort Love) and Jeff getting ready to play BANG!

I haven't been home much as of late and poor little Leki, who is accustomed to me being home all the time, has been missing me. When I came home from lunch the poor guy wouldn't get off me, purring louder and resettling every time I moved.

So here's a shot of the cutie insisting on attention. Chris created a sexier version of this shot as well.

Hung out with the Daniel (or Danimal as he is sometimes called) and Sherry this Monday evening.

Sherry had heard about a place called Happy Pizza that she wanted to try, so we ordered from there for dinner. The pizza was fine - nothing stellar or terrible about it.

After that we settled in to watch a movie called The Chaos Experiment. I wasn't really impressed, although admittedly Dan and I may not have given the movie a fair shot.

In between dinner and the movie I loaded Windows 7 (RC) onto Dan's laptop. So here's a shot of him messing around with it after it was done installing. True to windows - it took forever to install...

Most Sunday's for me are stuffed full or running around doing this or that as its the only afternoon during the week in which I can do personal errands, see friends in Detroit, etc.

This Sunday though none of that going on - which was nice. After having a pretty fun day in Civil Procedure (free M&M's are the way to a students heart) I got to relax.

First we picked up some lunch, headed to a park, and were promptly assaulted by hungry ducks. When you feed them the little group that first waddles up to you becomes a hungry mob, as seen in the pic. Still, it was good fun.

Later I was educated (briefly) in the ways of HeroClix. Interesting concept with far more customization than I had originally thought.

Double dating is weird. I've never done it and its an experience completely foreign to me. So when Shelly first approached me excited to meet the guy I'm dating and I to meet her mans, I was a little hesitant. Too many variables to consider, potentially too long of a time commitment if something goes wrong...etc...etc.

But the evening wasn't bad. We saw a date movie (Time Traveler's Wife - cute, not overly sappy) and went out for ice cream. All in all it was fun and I look forward to hanging with Shelly again.

So here's a shot of Shelly and her mans, Jonathan. Shelly was kind enough to take a shot of Chris and I as well.

Normally I welcome Dayzee's visits. We have long walks in the parks, snuggle in the bed, and generally enjoy each others company in spite of the cat.

These couple of weeks I had her, however, have been fraught with annoyances. She's gone to the bathroom in the apartment, thrown up, destroyed the carpet, and in general been unhappy and depressed. Part of it has been my lack of attention to her, part stress from the cat, and part just her.

So today my parents came out to Grand Rapids to scope out the new car and pick up their dog. While visiting, my dad actually played a tad with Leki, which rarely happens since he's allergic to cats.

This week my little brother was spending out in Holland with his fiance's family for their traditional summer retreat. Knowing he was only 1/2 a hour away from me I couldn't miss the opportunity to see him. Rarely do we get time as he lives on the other side of the state and is not always accessible.

It was good to catch up with both of them and enjoy the evening sun and water. I always enjoy their colorful tales and unique perspective on things.

So here's a shot of Jeff & Karen hanging out on the dock showing us around while Jeff stuffs his face.

Work was a busy day today - which was a welcome change. Although the task itself was someone tedious I was excited to have something to keep me occupied. The task involved plotting out maps - hence the image.

After that I spent an evening scoping out new people playing rockband, doing their thang. I'm not a huge fan of Rockband or Guitar Hero but I do enjoy watching other people play. Especially when they get really into it an animated.

It was a very enjoyable night all around.

Alright, yesterday was slightly expensive because I ordered a new phone. Today was much more expensive because I bought a car....

My Taurus was slowly spiraling down the drain (though it still runs) and honestly another winter was probably not possible with it unless I put money into it for more repairs. So no.

So I've been looking for about a month and a half for a new car and finally settled on one. Now while what you should look for in a car is reliability, durability, etc, I was looking for sync. I'll be damned if I drive another 10 years a car with a shitty stereo and no cd player. So this new Fusion has both the 6 disc changer and the sync system. What does that mean? That means hello ipod - you're my new music library. And it means bluetooth through the stereo for phone calls. Hawt.

So my cousin Sherry was awesome enough to drive me out to the dealership (and feed me <3) so I could pick up the car. Ty ty ma'am. She also took this picture. :)

Not bad for a used car, eh? Now to just figure out how to do stuff on the pre...

Today was just weird. It started off in the wee hours of the morning with Dayzee freaking out about thunderstorms - for hours - continually waking the apartment up. She got so freaked out she scratched a hole in my carpet in the apartment trying to bust into the bathroom.

Next I misplaced my necklace that I almost never take off for hours - finally discovering hours later.

Today a decision needed to be made about a used car I'd been looking at...and so that was done.

After all that (and ordering a new cell phone as well as providing tech support) the work day was over and it was time to head over to Shelly's with Sherry for a jewelry party I'd committed to. I went. I was uncomfortable. I left after it was over.

So here's a shot of the party at Shelly's....

I'm not going to lie - I did not take a picture today. I spent a rather large chunk of the day in bed and once I finally did get up (what...4ish) I was lazy on the couch.

I did, however, see a good movie. A lot of people told me when Juno came out that it was horrendous - do not watch. That I will hate it. If I remember right the movie Knocked Up came out around that time as well and everyone recommended Knocked Up over Juno. So I watched Knocked Up. And I hated it. So if that was the better of the two...why bother with Juno, right?

Well after having it recommended in a more persuasive manor to me, I gave it a shot. And I liked it. I was highly entertained. Good recommendation.

So this is just a shot I snagged from a blog (pic is hyperlink) of the movie.

Today was a lazy day. I did some cleaning but for the most part I just tried to relax, though I never did get that nap. I caught up on Red vs Blue, got some shopping done for Riley, and snuggled with Dayzee.

Now, its been actual months since I've played WoW for any length of time and a few weeks since I've actually even logged in. So excited, I logged in and went to check and see if anything was going on in Wintersgrasp. *sigh* I just missed the battle. But here are all the skeletons. It's probably just as well - Glenin has horrendous gear for her level (and is sporting a sexy fishing pole here and dress :P). I should probably work on that.... >>

Or I should have tried to stick out WAR. PvP in that was better than WoW....

Oh, and Shelly if you read this can you tell your man "FOR THE HORDE!!" :P Gotta keep those Alliance in their place. He'll get it - trust me.

Amanda loves to cook and bake. So when she said she would cook me a dinner of Alfredo and a bonus chocolate cake would be there in celebration of her mom's birthday the day before, how could I refuse?

So we had good food, great laughs, and peppy even got a nice tube out of the deal to crawl through. All in all it was a good evening that went late (for me 2am is late cause I'm a weirdo). All in all it was a fun, and educational, evening.

So here is a shot of Amanda making her Alfredo in the blender. A pretty interesting and tasty way to do it.

Every day this week I've come home to find a squirrel perched on the bird feeder. Now I'm not like most people - I'm not angry that they're stealing from the birds or anything like that. Actually, I'm impressed. I remember watching one of them over the winter run around back and forth trying desperately to get up at the thing.

Well, I dont know if this is the same one or not but kudos to you, you cheeky little squirrel.

So today I headed out to Millennium Park to take Dayzee out on a stroll. I figured I owe her for having her cooped up most of the other evenings this week.

It was a good evening and I had a great chat with a guy I've been talking to. Random fun topics and good laughs all around.

Unfortunately even though I had my camera with me I neglected to take any photos. So here's a last minute shot of Dayzee relaxing in her bed back at my apartment.

On another random note - my twitter account is still suspended for "suspicious activity." I've had the ticket closed on me 3 times with no feedback/resolution. Me thinks perhaps they are working with a time frame in which tickets should be addressed and are closing to meet the quota. Maybe not.... Either way - its slightly annoying. wtb www.twitter.com/shatteredhaven again plex.

Slowly going out for drinks with Shelly and Wendy is becoming a monthly ritual. And - it appears - we are adding more and more people. Which is cool since I haven't met a friend of Shelly's or Wendy's that I didn't get along with.

Prior to going out, however, I headed over to Shelly's to be her little tech support. I messed around on her computer, cleared up some issues, and left some pending for Monday when I will be back over there (sorry Dan & Sherry!). She's got a pretty cute couple of cats, and they're always friendly (especially Mocha).

So here is a shot of Shelly, Val, and Wendy (and me!) at the Monterrey Grille in Caledonia . I really have to remember to not order certain types of drinks at sports bars. Like Sangrias. Seriously. If you dont know how to make it - don't have it on the menu. They didn't even use red wine in it.

I can successfully say I did something new today. Although I'm not sure if its something you'd usually do with family...

I spent time with my cousins as usual. Nathan, the youngest brother, showed up with his cruiser and after smacking him a bit as promised in an earlier post the boys and I got down to the business of reviewing the random videos and pictures Nate had acquired since we'd last seen him.

While we did that Mrs Sherry (I have no idea why I call her that) played bejeweled through FB because she's terribly addicted to puzzle games. Sorry Sherry - I had to use this pic! That intensity in your eyes is almost frightening (besides we all know you Junes dont read this).

So among other things little Nate had something called Whorecraft. It's apparently porn with WoW characters. This doesn't strike me as odd except that he was never into WoW... So I had to see it. Nate of course booted it up. Soon intro credits started. Minutes passed and in what seemed like forever the credits finished. And minutes passed. And more still...

...and then I realized I was watching porn with my two male cousins....

I need to get out more. *head in hands*

Since I was in the Metro Detroit area again this weekend and my parents have plans to go out of town this week, I dognapped their dog, Dayzee.

The drive back was uneventful, as it usually is with her. When we arrived, however, she was very very insistent that we go outside. She has a passion for lying in the sun and, quite frankly, probably doesn't want to hang around an angry cat just yet.

So here she is just lying in the back of my apartment, sunbathing.

Today was a celebration for Georgia's 21st birthday. And she was pretty set on having a party! She rented a hummer limo - which progressed into a party bus as the limo got broken into and they had to swap it.

I made 100 jello shots and they started to go pretty fast before we even got on the bus - which is good cause I'm not taking them home (I dont drink alone - I'm way too paranoid I'll make it a bad habit).

So here is a shot of Georgia and Spencer, sitting around waiting for the bus to arrive and eating some dinner. There are more shots here, especially my favorite one that Kati took.