Back to the mountains!!

First of all, the photos from Donna's wedding are posted - and they are unbelieveable! I think these are probably the best wedding pictures I have ever seen. I, of course, do not photograph well... But Donna is freaking GORGEOUS! Hot Donna! Hot Donna! ;) Warning: it takes a long time to get through them all. I downloaded just the ones of me and the girls to my Picasa album so it's much quicker to get through... but I didn't download all the cool ones so it's worth going through them all if you have time!

From Donna and Jas...

Well, the trip back to Michigan went by way too fast... And I am so exhausted from all the running around! So let's start from the beginning.

Before I got this fire job, I had been planning on coming back to MI for two weeks at this time anyway. But then since I was working, I figured I would just wait until the end of February and visit before my "real" job doing hazard tree started - which would be March if I get the lead, April if I don't. Well, we haven't been able to burn much so it looks like I will be working straight into March, so I no longer knew if I could drive back and show off the pup. The fuels crew wasn't working Tues-Thurs anyway last week, and I didn't know this until the previous Thursday. Friday I just said Screw it, I'll take Monday and Friday off too and just go to Michigan!

So I just hopped in my truck with Logan around 10 am last Saturday and drove straight through. The dog was soooo well behaved and just slept the whole way - all 19 1/2 hours it ended up taking me! Of course, I had joked to all my city worker friends back in Michigan that I would bring a blizzard with me so they could get overtime plowing snow. This backfired, and I wound up in a lake effect snow storm on the west side of MI at 3 in the morning... I was already exhausted, and it was snowing so heavy I thought I would go cross eyed! But with my sweet new tires, I passed everybody on the freeway... Of course, they probably saw my Colorado license plates and knew they were dealing with a professional. ;)

I rolled into the driveway of my parents' house at 7:30 am, went inside and the dogs started barking like nuts. I just wanted to sleep but there was no way they were going to settle down. Sue saw me and was like, "What are you doing here??" Then I went upstairs to see my parents and they're just like "Oh hey." Hardly any surprise at all! Then again, my friends later reminded me that people expect me to do the unexpected by now, so why should they be surprised anymore? :)

Once the mutts calmed down, I proceeded to sleep ALL DAY. I finally woke up at like 5:30 pm and sent a text message to everybody that said "I'm in Michigan, bitches! SURPRISE!!" and that's when the phone calls and texts started pouring in. By 6 pm I already had most of my week booked with visits to people. I didn't hear back from Donna right away though, so I hoped maybe she was working at Champps Restaurant and I could surprise her. I drove up there and got a seat in her section. She came over to take my order and I look up from my menu... She does a literal double take... Then shouts "LISA! OH MY GOD!!!" By far, she was the best reaction of the whole trip, all happy and loud in the middle of the restaurant. So we tried to talk between her waiting on tables and made a lunch date for later in the week. I hadn't seen her since her wedding, and hadn't even heard about the honeymoon! Definitely had some catching up to do. After Chammps, I went over to see Jess and Michelle... I hadn't even seen them since July, and Michelle is having a baby in 2 months!

After a while, the days ran together so here's just a recap of what else happened. Monday, I went down to the City of Novi DPW garage to visit my old coworkers and brought Logan along. Everybody freaking loved him, he was so well behaved! My friend Marc has owned a few shepherds in his day and loved that he already has that German Shepherd swagger (like a panther!) down. ;)  I also met up with Tara at the Bamboo Club and found out that her hubby Kevin got a job offer in Arizona - so hopefully they'll be moving West too!! Monday night, Linda and I went to Ann Arbor to see Kevin and Beth. Did I mention that my sister, Kevin and Beth, AND Donna and Jason are all buying houses?? We went out to Sidetracks in Ypsilanti, and I can't believe that in all my years living out there I had never been there. If you're ever in that area, GO THERE! The deep friend mushrooms aren't normal button mushrooms... they are portabellos! Soooo good!

I think Tuesday I went out to visit my Dad. He's not really big on dogs, but I think he liked Logan more than he let on. My first dog was an albino German Shepherd that he got when I was little, so I think he might have a hidden soft spot for him. ;)  That night I went out to Outback with Mom, Linda and Sue. Unfortunately, my stepdad was soooo sick for most of the time I was there... so it ended up being a girl's night out. Wednesday was my lunch date with Hot Donna. We switched it up and went to Godaiko, which is a Japanese Steakhouse/Sushi place. I accidentallyordered the wrong lunch combo... I thought I was getting mostly rolls with just a little bit of sashimi (raw fish). Instead, I was presented by a very attractive plate of one roll... and a whole lot of colorful raw fish. Yikes! I guess it was a good way to try new things! By far the salmon is the best; wasn't too keen on the tuna... but it was all pretty good! Mmmmmm raw fish. Much better than it sounds!!

I met up with a few of the Novi guys at a place called Famous Dave's for happy hour - $1 pints of Guinness! I ended up hanging out with Steve, John, and Drew... and got in a pretty heated discussion about gun laws, and about multi-use recreation areas. Drew says he shouldn't have to worry about getting run over by mountain bikes when he's hunting. I said I don't want to worry about getting shot when I'm mountain biking! It was pretty amusing. Then hung out with Linny over coffee and talked about her house hunting and the fact that she is essentially engaged to Tony!! It's not "official" but it's gonna happen. My little sis is gonna get married!!! Don't ask when, because she doesn't know - lots on her plate right now - but I think I'm more psyched up about this than she is! ;)

As is my new tradition, I saw my stylist and got my hair cut when I was back. I always joke that she's just as important as my family, since I make it a point to see her when I come back. Hey, I just haven't found anybody I like cutting my hair out in CO yet!

And in a wonderful coincidence, Thursday just so happened to be Jack's retirement party. Who is Jack? Jack hired me for my first job out of high school with the City of Novi. He hired me among almost all guys to work at the parks, mow grass, run a tractor, prep ball fields... Got me hooked on manual labor... Then put me in forestry where I got started. So if it wasn't for Jack, I probably wouldn't be out here in Colorado doing forestry work! I hadn't seen him in a few years either, and he hired me when I was 18. He was also sooo important as a reference for me, and said great things about me for jobs everywhere from Maine to Alaska... And helped me with a good reference for the City of Oak Park. It just so happened his retirement party was at 5th Avenue, which was where I was going with my friends that evening anyway.

Linda, Susan and I (all three of us work or used to work for the city) show up for the party. I didn't even realize how many people would be there, so many people that I used to work with! A few of my "boys" were there, so my sisters hung out with them. I went up to Jack to say hi, to which he replies, "OH MY GOD, LISA!" He wondered where the heck I was living now, since he gave so many references all over the country. I told him he needed to come upstairs later and dance with us. It was good to see him!

Later, my sisters, Jess and I went upstairs for the music and hung out. Who shows up?? Jack, Tim, and Fozzy. Tim's son is my cousin's best friend; Fozzy is the forestry tech and would have been my partner if I had put in for that job instead of coming to Colorado. Jess has a few photos I'll post when she sends them to me. Donna even showed up! It was a lot of fun, but I'm definitely not used to being somewhere that crowded. Definitely like the quieter atmosphere up here in Estes! Guess I'm getting old, haha.

Friday, Linda and I took Logan out to see Tara's lab puppy, Lucy. Lucy is freaking HUGE - 65 solid stocky pounds, and a freaking wrecking ball of puppy energy! At first it scared Logan to see this massive dog run and jump at him, but he finally got sick of being pushed around and started wrestling back. It was exhausting just watching them!! Later, I got coffee with Jabena and saw her for the first time in almost a year!

All in all, it was soooo much talking! I didn't even get to see everybody that I wanted to - Aaron, Nat and Carl, Jeff and that crew... I was so busy and exhausted. Friday I could have taken my little bro to a Red Wings game, but I was so tired and was going to hit the road between 1 and 3 am Saturday morning so I couldn't. I could have also gone to the Wings/Avalanche game last Sunday if I had told them I was coming back! Doh! That's ok though. I watched the game with my mom on Friday night and got a couple hours of sleep.

Said my goodbyes and hit the road by 1:45 am Saturday night. I left earlier than I had planned because I heard some more snow was coming. The lake effect snow greeted me once again on the western side of the state; it wasn't too bad at the time, but I guess just a couple hours later there was a 20 car pile up! Glad I left early or I might have been stuck!

The ride home was exhausting and just NOT FUN. Logan was an angel again, but it was so windy and record cold temps along the way. It was 1 degree in Iowa with a -25 windchill... at 10 am! It was so cold I couldn't even really nap in my truck, it got too cold too fast. Logan couldn't even walk in the snow becausehis paws hurt! I didn't think I was ever going to make it back. I started getting a little loopy but lots of people called me to help keep me sane. I was convinced I would never get out of Nebraska! It's the state that never ends!

But I did make it, and was home by 8:15 pm (Colorado time). I haven't done the math to see how long it took. I showered up and went over to Tim's; he watched Deadwood and I passed out. Yesterday, we made a big bacon, eggs and toast breakfast, watched more Deadwood, and went to the Rock for the superbowl. I was suppose to work today but I got a nice little migrane and couldn't get out of bed. So, here I am on the computer!!

And that's pretty much all I have to say for now. Still don't feel great and am still exhausted from my trip to MI. Enjoy some photos!

From Winter 2006-2007