Photo of the day

I took this photo in Daytona Beach, FL a couple of years ago when Austin and Donna and I took a little mini vacation. It was such a nice time away, some fun in the sun to beat out the mid-winter blahs... it was great :o)

Photo of the day

This photo was taken in Scottsdale, AZ at the Breakthrough to Success seminar I've mentioned a few times (and posted a few photos from!) I loved these leaves and how fun they looked... the way the light was catching them was just perfect:o)

We're Engaged!!!!!

That's right y'all, he asked me to marry him!!!!!!!! It's been just over a week and I'm still grinnin' like a fool...! :o) Since most everyone keeps asking the same questions I'll try and capture some of the essentials here so you can get the whole scoop :o)

WHO: Austin Scott Thorp & Rachel Elizabeth van Rossum
We've been dating for nearly 4 years, I met Austin at a family church camp and we hit it off right away... we hung out a lot and started dating a few months later and we've been pretty inseparable ever since... Austin is a musician who not only won my heart but won me over to country music... a genre I had no tolerance for before I met him... but I love his sound and it's been a real adventure learning to be a part of the music industry!

WHEN & WHERE: Friday 17 April 2009, evening- the Berkley Front (Berkley, MI)

HOW: here's the story kids!
Austin was a part of this great gig that his mandolin player Ben had coordinated. There were several artists performing and this girl was on stage before Austin went on. He and I were just hanging out in the back of the room dancing and sitting at the bar chatting. He was really impressed with the girl on stage and said "She should play at our wedding!" Well, he and I say things like that all the time and it means nothing... so I was like "yeah ok great... just as long as you ask me before you ask her!" Later we were sitting at the bar and he said the same thing, so I responded in the same way. He turned around, looked me right in the eye and said "will you marry me?" ... to which I responded "are you kidding me??" (yes I actually said that!) he said "no, I'm serious" and I said "don't mess with me... you do NOT joke about this...!" ... and so we went back and forth a few times, me being convinced he was not actually proposing to me... it wasn't until he said "well, I don't have a ring..." that I went "Oh my god you're serious!!!! Of course!!! Yes!!!!"

It was amazing... I kept asking him all night "really?? we're engaged??" even the next morning! :o)

We decided to keep it quiet until we could tell our parents at the same time (they love each other and all get along really well) so I manipulated everyone into getting together for dinner. The soonest we could get everyone together was Tuesday night so I was basically flipping out for 4 days waiting to tell my folks... it's amazing I didn't make myself sick! We got everyone to meet in Ferndale at a place called Maria's Front Room (or something like that). It was this amazing little Italian place that couldn't have been more perfect for our announcement. We managed to control ourselves and let our folks catch up a bit before I made Austin spill the beans... I was pretty sure I wouldn't be able to eat if we hadn't told them yet, as it turned out I barely ate even afterward! :o) So we're sitting there and Austin says "well there's a reason we wanted everyone to be here together tonight... I asked Rachel to marry me and bought her a ring..." Donna (Austin's mom) started crying and jumped out of her chair to run over and hug him, my mum said "are you kidding?!" and grabbed my hand... and our dads both started grinning. It was awesome. hugs and congratulations and smiles all around and then came the questions and the suggestions and the random giggles and smiles... it was fantastic!

The Ring: Austin and I had gone out ring shopping Monday night and actually ended up walking out of the store with a ring. I had expected it to be a longer process, checking many stores, price shopping a ton, and making sure we had really found the perfect ring... turns out we found it in 40 minutes :o) We bought it at Rogers & Hollands and just had a phenomenal experience. We even had the perfect soundtrack! Every song that came on over the speakers while we were discussing the ring and making our decision was one we both loved... very cool... it was as if the stars had alligned. He bought me an incredibly beautiful ring, and we got it for 60% off so that made it even more amazing!! :o)

The Plans: Since both Austin and I still live at home we've decided to first take a look at our finances and our housing situation before we set a date for the wedding. In all reality I think we'll probably be setting a date within the next couple of months as we start a serious house hunt. Our goal is to make our wedding as stress free as possible... as I like to say: easy breezy beautiful! (I should copyright that, no? lol) We intend to make it as simple and comfortable as we can and just enjoy the whole process. The only 2 things we have absolutely settled on are: 1- we're getting married (I still am not used to hearing that!!!) and 2- my uncle Steve from TN is going to perform the ceremony. Whenever we go down to Nashville we stay with Steve & Cherry and Austin has stayed with them the times I haven't been able to go along. They've known me my whole life, so it was an easy decision for us because he knows both of us very well and has been a pivotal person in our relationship with each other.

New Blog Feature: So from now on, in addition to the Photo of the Day feature on this blog and the occasional non-photo related entry, there will now also be periodic wedding updates :o) That way friends and family can follow along with what's going on. :o)

In Conclusion: OMG I'M GETTING MARRIED!!!!! AHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!! :oD YAAAAAAYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!

Photo of the day

I took this photo several years ago at one of Austin's gigs. The gig was in celebration of a new beer this brewery had brewed especially for the Maibach occasion (if you are a beer enthusiast I'm sure you know more about this than I do).

The weather that day was great, and as much as I hate beer it was really a fabulous day... everyone had a blast, whether they were drunk or sober... :o)

Photo of the day

Every year I brave a single flower in the garden... I am not much of a gardener, but I love tigerlilies so much I had to give it a try. The first year I only got about 3 blooms, but now they've grown and spread so much I get a lot more than 3 :o)

I always end up shooting a bunch of photos whenever they bloom... I took this one a couple of years ago after a rain. I love the way the shutters behind it contrast with the petals... blue and orange, two of my favourite colours, and my all time favourite colour combo :o)

Week One

So Fowler and Herman are still MIA... and each day gets more frustrating for me. In the last several days we've probably had a dozen people call to let us know they've seen cats that may or may not be ours, but every search we've then gone out and conducted has turned up zero kitties... ours or otherwise. We've been checking in at shelters regularly, have posted hundreds of fliers and passed them out door to door in at least a half mile radius of the house, and have even posted fliers in all of the businesses we live near, just in case.

I know a few people who have had cats gone missing only for the worst to happen, but many many many people I've come in contact with over the past week have shared stories of their own cats (or cats of people they know) who went missing for up to a month and then one day showed up back at home, just fine.

I keep holding on to the hope that they are in fact fine and healthy and will be home soon, but my sleep is really suffering in the mean time... which is really unusual for me. Stress doesn't normally effect my sleep, but I haven't had a single good night's rest since they left. Last night my brother took me to Meijer where we bought some lavender bath foam and a lavender candle. He ran a hot bath for me while I dug out some comfy pjs and I soaked for awhile in lavender bliss... then I had the candle on my warmer next to my bed, and I slept *better* last night than I have all week... so at least it helped (still not an amazing night's sleep, but way better than it has been!)

I just miss my kitties... so do Zieltje and Micah, both of them are still very restless... they know something isn't right.

So here's to hoping Fowler and Herman are safe and sound, and that they will both come home very very very soon!!! :o(

missing kitties :o(

So Herman and Fowler have been missing since Sunday... that in and of itself worries me enough, but the act that we've been having snowstorms since Sunday night makes me even more worried... we have been out every single day shaking the treats, calling them, looking, passing out fliers to neighbours, posting fliers on lamp posts etc and there's still been no sign of them. At first I thought maybe they had been trapped in someone's garage over night which made me feel a little better thinking they'd at least been sheltered from the rain and snow... now it's been 3 nights and they're still missing and I'm worried that maybe they're trapped somewhere without any food or water...

the house is so quiet without them... micah keeps pacing by the doors and whimpering, and Zieltje keeps snuggling up to us and curling up in front of the patio doors...

my poor kitties... I just hope they are safe and that they find their way home soon... :o(

Photo of the day

This photo was taken at the Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp last fall when Todd and I visited it on our final trip to Berlin for the GLD. I had always wanted to have the opportunity to visit one of the WW2 Concentration Camps, but was too young when we lived in Rotterdam for my folks to be willing to take me to one. Sachsenhausen was primarily a labour camp (vs. death camp) and housed more political prisoners than jews, but the experience was still extremely powerful. The site has only been partially preserved, and even those parts that have been preserved have been done so in a very sterile way, so it wasn't as if you were stepping completely back in time, rather as if you were walking through a museum that just happend to be built in the same location. It may sound crazy but even with the changes that had been made to the place, there was still a very haunted spirit about the place. The old prison building (sounds odd doesn't it, a prison building in a concentration camp?) was kept mostly in tact, as was the yard, and walking through that extremely narrow hallway, looking into the various tiny cells... it was terrifying... even in broad daylight. Before you enter the actual camp through the gates, there is a garden of memorials and monuments that various organizations and individuals have placed within the outer walls of the camp, but not in the inner santcum. Some were very striking, some were very abstract, all were touching. I don't exactly know what I believe about the afterlife, but I do wonder sometimes if I had a past life that was in some way deeply and directly connected to the Holocaust, because I have always felt a very strong draw to it, and I can't figure out any reason why I should feel that way.

I absolutely recommend that anyone who has the opportunity to visit one of these sites should do so, or visit a more local Holocaust Museum (the one in DC is phenomenal, but there are much smaller ones across the nation that are also very good)... the experience will be a powerful reminder to us that we are all human, no matter what, and that no matter how big differences between us may seem, they are no excuse for letting atrocities such as this ever happen again.