Festival of the Arts 2014

Friday after work, Kyle and I met up at home and then headed downtown to one of our favorite Grand Rapids summer events, the Festival of the Arts!

Festival of the Arts is an awesome street fair with local music, art, and food. Admission, performances, and activities are all free. There are several stages with constant performances throughout the day, as well as art displayed at various downtown locations. And the food - there are food booths set up throughout with lots of delicious choices, and proceeds benefit local organizations. What could be better for a summer weekend?

Today is the last day of Festival this year, and you can't miss it! Festival is open from 10 AM-7 PM, so check out this handy-dandy map and get ready for an epic Grand Rapids Sunday. Live in the city and can't make it out? You can tune into performances on GRTV's Livewire Channel 24 on Comcast Cable. (GRTV is a service of the Community Media Center - so much love in this post!)

When we arrived Friday evening, we walked around and sampled some yummy food for dinner while enjoying a couple performances. That night, we volunteered with the GRTV video crew - see Kyle in the pic below? We had such a fun time and after visiting Festival most years since we've lived here, it was so cool to get more involved.

Mom asked for a Festival selfie, here's what we sent her. :)

Seriously, don't miss Festival. Events like this that bring our community together in celebration of our cultures and include activities for all people are exactly why I love Grand Rapids. So head down and enjoy!

More info can be found of the Festival of the Arts website. Consider volunteering next year - there's a job for everyone! :)

Lucky #2013

Happy New Year!

Fun fact: Did you know that 2013 is the first year since 1987 to be composed of four different numbers?

Even though I realize that a New Year does not necessarily mean I am a new or different person than I was last year (aka two days ago), I can still hold onto the hope that starting fresh and re-prioritizing can bring.

I'm not too keen on the whole "resolutions" thing, and studies show that if you do make a resolution, especially about weight loss, you are more likely to fail than succeed. However, I've been taking some time over the past couple days to reflect on my life and think about what's important. So here's my list of goals for 2013 - resolutions, if you must. :)

1. Be happy.
This is super objective and something that we all need to constantly work at. Sometimes happiness can be hard to find, and over time, the things that make us happy change. But you have to take the search into your own hands. I challenge you to think about what makes you happy, and do it. Stop making excuses - I will be working to do the same.

2. Be Way CREATiVE!
In 2012 Kyle & I finally named our freelance video/media production partnership. In 2013, we hope to start up as a business. I hope to expand not only our client base but also the types of projects we take on, as we have experiences with multiple media platforms in many different environments. This is another objective goal because it's really part of the next 5-years-or-so-plan as it is a part of my ultimate career goal.

You can keep up with our current projects by checking out our blog and following us on Twitter!

3. Be active.
I enjoy working out and now that I am working less hours during the day, can take more time to do so. I downloaded a cool (free!) app called Workout Trainer at Google's suggestion. I tried it out last Saturday (who says you have to wait until the previous year is over to get to work?) and really enjoyed it! You create a profile by telling it your age, weight, fitness goals, workout preferences, and even the amount of time you have to work out from 5 minutes to an hour. It has several ways to set reminders so you can't forget to work out! 

There are many free workouts of all intensity levels and you are able to preview the exercises before you start. During the workout, a voice instructs you on how to do the exercise while an animation of a real person shows you the movement. It also counts down each exercise as well as the total workout time.

I highly recommend this app for anyone who's looking to be more active. It can really be tailored to anyone's needs and preferences and takes the thinking out of working out. I plan to use the app along with other forms of exercise that I love (walking, running, kickboxing, Pilates/Yoga, etc.).

4. Make better choices about what goes into or onto my body.
Of course, this mainly relates to food and drink. For the most part, we make pretty healthy choices at our house. With a few exceptions. I am a Coke fiend. We both love chocolate. And we're guilty of eating late at night and drinking too much beer sometimes. Instead of focusing on not having these things, I'm going to work to replace them with a better option. Tea instead of Coke. Some of this will just take time and planning. Some of it will take taste-bud-adjusting and strong willpower.

I downloaded another app to help me make these better choices. It's called Fooducate and it was another New Year suggestion from Google.  It's a bar code scanner that gives you the nutritional values of thousands of foods. I haven't tried it out yet and will report back with a review.

5. Read More.
This one is self-explanatory. I love to read to learn and to free my mind, and I haven't been doing enough of that over the past few years.

6. Stress Less.
Easier said than done, right? This is a big one for me and another thing I have been working on and will continue to work on. Stress has given me both physical and mental beatings in the past . While stress can take many paths into your life, the good news is that it can also take many paths out of your life. Part of my stress less plan is to keep up on my other commitments to myself, but there are other things you can do. Laugh with friends, get enough sleep, cuddle a pet!

Of course, there are many other things we're looking forward to in 2013, but I think these 6 things are really key for my success. I'm sure that I'll check in now and again with my progress. And if you see me straying from one, hey -- call me out!!

What about you - do you make New Years resolutions? What do you hope to accomplish in 2013?

Caring is Creepy: Book review

Caring is Creepy – David Zimmerman (c. April 2012)

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

WARNING – Spoiler Alert. Come on. You’re reading a review. What did you expect?

I love a good book – good stories, yes; but also books that teach and make you wonder. I hadn't read much recently before starting my new job a few weeks ago. Conveniently, my new office is located on the top floor of the largest, most lovely library right in the heart of our city. With all of those books downstairs calling my name, my hiatus from reading has ended.

Caring is Creepy is the story of two 15-year-old best friends, Lynne & Dani. When Dani receives a computer for her birthday, the two girls begin using the Internet as a way to play pranks on people. One day, Lynne makes the huge mistake of using her real identity, and the story progresses from there. She gets caught up with an older man who has gone AWOL from the Army, and the plot twists to intertwine with the story of Lynne’s mother and her drug-dealing boyfriend in the deadly climax of the story.

I was interested in a book that used the Internet in a mostly-modern way (although I don’t necessarily buy that these girls are JUST starting to use a computer) because the Internet itself can be a predator. However, Lynne’s real problems come from a lack of parenting. Lynne is forced to be an adult, and when she gets way in over her head, she just keeps going. She rationalizes the situation to survive it, just as her mother and boyfriend do.

All in all, I give Caring is Creepy 3.5 out of 5 stars. It was interesting and really captured me at the beginning, but it dragged on after that and I had trouble suspending my disbelief. There were too many unanswered questions at the end. This technique has its place, but I hate leaving a huge WHY?! up in the air.

Fun fact: The book is named after The Shin’s 2012 song Caring is Creepy. I hadn't heard it before – and still can’t say I’m a fan after listening – but here’s the video so that you can check it out.

Celtic Pride

Since the death of my first pair of Skullcandy headphones (which got me through Ice Brigade and many hours at the gym, thanks to Kyle), I've been using the shitty stock ibuds. (Do you like the name I just made up for them?) They're uncomfortable, and they don't fit anyone. 

I ordered a pair of Titans for Kyle for Valentine's Day, and while shopping I found another awesome pair and decided to order them for myself. I love basketball, but the Celtics aren't my favorite team...I just loved the design!

Celtics Skullcandy earbuds

I finally got to use them yesterday, and of course, they sound amazing. Kyle and I decided to do the crazy Hundred Workout, and I used my iPod during the running portion. Absolutely love them! They don't have inline volume control, but they're great ear buds for the price, and they come with the interchangeable ear gels, so they fit perfectly. You can find them on Best Buy's site.

Sadly, Ky still hasn't gotten to enjoy his ear buds. When they arrived, they did not have the nylon cord that the product description and photo showed. It was super disappointing, and we ended up returning them. So we ordered a Rasta pair on Amazon that should have the correct cable, so hopefully they will be here soon!

Eco-friendly bags

You will never guess what came in this bag:

I finally had a reason to print something, so Kyle and I got out the printer we bought a couple months ago.  Ky opened the box and...the printer was in an eco-friendly bag?  Ok, awesome!

The printer is awesome.  It's an HP (of course) Photosmart 5510 wireless scanner, printer, and copier.  I gotta give major props to my man for hooking it up! I just emailed it some documents that are printing as I type...