The Bee's Knees

Picture taken by Lisa Anderson

Friends near and far came to celebrated my 25th year of life, with a 1920s party.

Tiffani and I stopped a guy in his tracks as we walked into The Wealthy Street Bakery. Yeah we get that a lot.

Katie MCed the Vaudeville portion of the evening and composed a book of 5-7-5 haikus written by my friends. Such a precious gift.

Lisa graciously opened up her home for the festivities.
+ Daniel, Katie, and LaKeri trying to eat a cupcake.

Mari and I have been friends since my 8th grade/her 7th grade year.

Daniel Estrada in pinstripes!

Thanks to Andy's audio skills and equipment, I now have an audio companion to the party.

Jes and Jeremy drove up with our friend Jon for the party.

Fierce
Marina and LaKeri

In order of appearance into this world, my sisters and brother.

Talent Portion: I asked my guest to bring something to share. Katie and I are trying to convince Ashley to join in. She would have none of it.

Michael and Andy demonstrating limelight. Yes, that's a blow torch.

I read a portion of my 6th grade journal. "I love JTT."

Brooke enlisting the help of Emma, Laura, LaKeri, and Ben in the reading of Farlly Farts.

Marina reciting a poem.

"Hey Amanda, remember that time..."
Jeremy putting memories to music.

Holly and Rob wrote their song that night.
"You're half, half a century!"

By request, Daniel sang a Britney Spears cover!

Mackenzie and Estrada collaborated on, What Happens When an Emo Falls in Love with Amanda and Writes a Song about it.

Katie's Disclaimer: If you're easily offended, you're probably going to be offended.

"Girl, you're tighter than my skinny jeans
I see you smoking in my silly dreams
Girl, you're tighter than my skinny jeans
I want to romance you to smithereens"

I first heard Chris Bathgate preform at Calvin College. He drove in from Ann Arbor to do the show.
Check him out

Many had left for the night, which provided a small intimate setting.


By the end of the night, three people had told my how much they like my friends. Yes, they are wonderful. Their thoughtfulness and generosity amazes me. To have them all in one pace at the same time, made the night very very special.

Ben

Here's a small taste of this weekend. More to come.

March is Reading Month

Today I had the absolute pleasure of reading to students at the local elementary Emma works at. If that could be my job, I think I'd be happy for the rest of my life.

Saturday found me in the Westside Library where I found these two jems. These books features a dualing of voices between Melanie Watts, the author, and Chester her attention seeking cat. Chester's voice come accross in the red letter of a marker and he often doodles on the page.

Pulling all my skills from Oral Interpretation I put voices to Melanie, Chester, and the occasional squeaks of the mouse. Such fun.

Emma ran the Irish Jig in East Town yesterday. Her first 5K went pretty well.

Emma: Amanda I want you take a lot of picture.
Amanda: Okay. I'll just run the race along side you, taking your picture and at the last minute I'll sprint ahead and beat you. I'll look like this and you'll be in shock.

*Reenactment

The Art of Pontiac Maintenance

Yesterday, after a month of my car making "the sound," my new friend Andy and I worked out some of our hypothesizes on the engine. I now have a rough idea of how to take my alternator out. This is where we thought the sound was originating, but after taking it to an alternator shop and having a great conversation with Mike the shop's owner, we found out the part was fine. Next thought, the battery. We drove to an auto store and had it tested. I also purchased new spark plugs that were then replaced. Low and behold my heat started working faster, but the sound still lingered. BUT, after putting some power steering fluid in the almost dry well, the sound has stopped...for now. Hopefully, that's the end of it and my car will stop trying to mess with me.

Cupcakes ala Katie and Lisa for Andy's birthday.
(I'm quite proud of this picture)

Six Word Memoirs - Part 2

After many years roots finally taking.

Normal is overrated. Quirky is better.

_______________________________________
Everyone threw their memoirs into a basket. We all drew one, read it, and tried to guess who had written it. Apparently mine were easily identifiable.

Six Word Memoirs

For this week's book group we were to read Not Quite What I Was Planning: Six Word Memoirs. Our assignment is to write are own and share it. This becomes difficult because six words is not a lot, but I've managed to fill a page of my journal and hopefully one will be worth sharing.

Here are a few from the book:

Found true love after nine months. -Jody Smith

Quite guy; please pay closer attention. - Jonathan Lesser

Was father, boys dies, still sad. -Ronald Zalewski

I lost god. I found myself. - Joe Kimmel

Couldn't cope so I wrote songs. - Aimee Mann

I inhale battles. I exhale victories. -William Heath