The Update

I'll post something provoking and insightful soon (when the writer bug bites!), but for now, may I interest you in an update of the riveting Gouveia lifestyle??

#1 My birthday...

I feel like when I turned 30, it was more like 20-ten. NOW, though, I'm in my thirties. Kind of creeps me out, kind of makes me feel cool. I don't think I look "in" my thirties. I sure don't act like it. Nor do I think I dress thirties-ish. So I guess I'm cool with being in my thirties after all.

There was no official party, soiree, or anything of the like, but I did have some tidbits of fun here and there. First, my sweet friend Mary made my fave - fruit pizza - for our Bible study group the night before my birthday.

My mom met me for lunch in Muskegon on my birthday, and then Matt met me at the Apple store in GR to get me an iPod! We went to the Piper (favorite restaurant) the next night for dinner. Great birfday overall. (In case you haven't caught on, "birfday" is a family term. I'm not that bad of a speller!)

#2 Memorial Day weekend

Whilst my family laughed and ate and enjoyed each others' company at the the Farm (family cottage), I was entrusted with the task of saving the world one baby at a time - Saturday, Sunday, and Monday. Well, holiday weekends are typically slow on the Birth Center, so I saved (fed) one baby in the Special Care Nursery all weekend. While it was NOT the height of excitement, it WAS nice to be downstaffed (as in, dude, we don't need you) for the full 12 hours on Sunday, so we were able to enjoy a cookout at Jan and Mary's house.

I just have to say that Mary is SO good to us. She sets SUCH an example of hospitality, is an amazing cook, and supplies my husband with the best leftovers he's ever gonna get. ALL of the husbands drool like Pavlov's dogs when Wednesday night Bible study rolls around, because they KNOW a goody bag is coming home for them!!! hahahahahaha!

#3 The Fence

Enough said. We fenced the backyard (mind you, not along the side down the driveway between us and the neighbors, if you read that post), and it really is sweet to be able to toss Molly out there and let her patrol the day away (from the dirt bowl she dug immediately next to the house). Additionally, the garage is re-sided. It's a nice touch. I threw a fistful of wildflower seeds down on a patch next to the garage, am going to erect the fabulous center-post clothesline we got from CA Mommy for our birfdays (it just arrived today, Sarah!!), and am mediating the battle between the squirrels and the birds for feeder rights. Those squirrels are like mosquitoes with big, fluffy tails...just awful.

#4 My trying-to-be-green thumb

Someone did some great landscaping work in the front yard well before we bought the house. Unfortunately, it was full of ivy (darn English and their ivy - no offense, man), which we promptly ripped out. I tried planting a few thingies last summer without success. So I did some advice-hunting, got some good pointers from an old friend who is probably the most talented decorater/gardener I know (reading her blog is like curling up with a cup of tea in a peaceful garden - I highly recommend it!), and got to work.

This is the "Before" picture. A few little annuals in the planter box. The area of interest is this area to the right of the steps. The area to the left I'll shape up a bit, but there's a beautiful peony blooming there, and a nice row of daylilies, so it's not as ugly.

I went to a perennial greenhouse and had the dude help me pick some plants that would do okay in my little area. I felt like a complete idiot and the dude helping me wasn't really assuaging my feelings of idiocy, but I guess his job is to sell me perennials, not ameliorate my feelings of gardening inadequacy. Anyway, per my friend's helpful advice (my actual friend, I'm not sarcastically referring to the perennial dude as my friend), I prepped my soil.

And then I plopped my plants in. The plants in the back are supposed to grow to close to 5x5 apiece. I have no idea the names of any of these plants, which I am ashamed to admit, but you must refer to the above paragraph. I bought and ran. Will research the specifics later. All I know is that these plants, the dude assured me, should do well in the environment I have (part sun/shade, good mix of clay and sand, etc etc). I heard that if you talk to your plants, they do better. So as I was putting them in their holes, I talked to them...begging them not to die and make me look like a fool. (You think I'm joking!)

I completed my project by filling it in with some cypress mulch. I even tucked a rain gauge in there. It's been a week and they're still alive, so I must be doing something right so far!!!

#5 Surprise visit with Ginger and Ron!

This past Saturday we got a call from my aunt Ginger and uncle Ron, who were in GR for my cousin Haley's volleyball tournament. It just so happened that we were both off AND had no plans, so they came over to see our house and took us out to dinner!!! LOVE surprise visits, especially with family!!

#6 Church picnic

I'm not gonna lie: I love a church picnic. We had our picnic this past Sunday (it was BYO-Everything, which made me laugh) at Tunnel Park, by Lake Michigan. Good times. The last church picnic we went to was in Tucson, and it was a LOT hotter at that one.

Some good pics of the Lake...


I think that about wraps it up for now! This weekend my friend Renee and I were planning on road-tripping to Door County, WI for a good kick-back time of hiking, kayaking, and whatever else. But THEN, Renee broke her ankle. Badly. So scrap that plan!!! I'll head to Chicago to see her anyway, but our hiking shoes and kayaks will be replaced with a couple of Little Rascals toot-tooting thru the city (again, you think I'm joking)!

Happy June!! Enjoy the summer because it's gonna go FAAAST!!!!