Travel Michigan: A Day Trip to Ludington.

When folks around the world think of Michigan, they immediately envision 10 feet of snow and ice, miles upon miles of car manufacturing facilities, scary stories about Detroit and of course, the devastating effects of the recession.

Michigan is a proud state with a rich history.  I have traveled stateside U.S. as well as abroad, having been fortunate enough to enjoy landscapes of a dozen different countries.  With the soulful experience of travel as comparison, I can testify to the incredible beauty of the state of Michigan.

I wish that the State of Michigan would pull together a kick ass tourism marketing campaign as magnificent as say, California because we do have it all here.  Gazillions of lakes, sandy beaches, fishing, bed & breakfasts, festivals, art, museums, culture, cuisine, music (and lots of it), wilderness, sports, vineyards, you name it.  Michigan has something to offer you.

I am so disappointed with the "Pure Michigan" tourism website.  We can do so much better.  It needs to be visually stimulating, especially with everything that Michigan can give to you and your family.  Please look into vacationing here and go a bit beyond the general tourism sites.  Really research and get on the phone.  Talk to the locals.  They can point you towards those wonderfully undiscovered little nooks and crannies of the Mitten still unspoiled from crowds and commercialization.  You won't be disappointed.

My son and eldest daughter decided to get out of town for the day and drove 2 1/2 hours west to Ludington, a coastal community nestled on the shores of Lake Michigan.

I cannot believe that I did not take more pictures but I was really just visually and emotionally soaking up the surroundings, so thankful to just be present there.

Historic downtown Ludington is lined with eateries for every palette, boutiques, candy and ice cream shops and intimate establishments to enjoy a cocktail or two or three.  There was an outdoor vending event that offered everything from Michigan-made soaps, furniture made from wine barrels to outdoor ornaments and wind chimes crafted from lake glass collected along the shores of Lake Michigan.

We stopped at the local House of Flavors for sandwiches and the best ice cream EVER.  Cherry Chocolate Chip Amaretto.  Yum Yum.

Donni having her picture taken with local Buccaneers.  

Peyton was done swimming earlier in the afternoon, so we hit the state park beaches for more shore time before heading home to Ithaca.  The lake was like glass and you could walk out for about 100 yards or more and have it just reach your waist and still see through to your feet at the bottom.  

Do you know why I enjoy swimming in Lake Michigan?  No jellyfish.  No crabs.  No sharks.

Now I am not going to tell fibs here.  Lake Michigan can be pretty darn chilly.  But on a hot summer day and sweating it out in the sun, it is wonderfully welcoming!

Donni sporting her new beach shirt.

We had to share our space with a few feathered friends.

Physically exhausted from the sun but our souls feeling renewed, we made our way back home but look forward to our next Michigan adventure.

My Jerry Maguire Mission Statement

Yep folks.  I have been gone from the Blogger Universe for um.....awhile.

As always, my A.D.D. tends to get the best of me and I am off doing other random things.

 But this last "thing" is not random.  It is a pretty big deal for me.  So I want to share.

First news.  I am not a Tomboy Tools consultant anymore.  I love the company.  Love the tools.

Just need to find the right fit.

Hallelujah, me thinks I have found it.

I was working a table at a vendor show last year and was first introduced to the health and wellness company, "It Works!"

I thought to myself, "What a ridiculous name for a company."  Of course there was a leggy gorgeous blond that was working the It Works! table.  She was the glaring example of health, beauty and wellness.  Why wouldn't she be?  That is how the company sucks you in!
 ANYONE can look just like her!  Just sign on the dotted line.

I laugh about these thoughts today, as this leggy gorgeous blond is now my It Works! sponsor.  Sarah has been right there, traveling on her own dime from Michigan along with my ever supportive upline, Gennesis, (Love the name.  I know, right?) to the steamy summer heat of Washington D.C./Northern Virginia.  Anyone who has ever traveled to the nation's capital during the summer months knows that it is insanity to plan a trip during the height of a D.C. summer.  But then again, you must have a couple of good screws loose to take the bold dive into the awesome world of multi-level marketing, right?  Heat, be damned!  We are dreamers and nothing was going to stop us.

Not to mention, we were in the thick of the crazy heat wave.  My 1999 Yukon barely cranking the A.C., we braved 104 to 110 degree heat for 5 days of blitzing, reigning in new business and introducing folks to this incredible company and its innovative health and wellness product line.

A HU-MUNGO (is Hu-Mungo even a word?  Well, right now it is.) storm knocked out power and cellular service which is cause for widespread panic to anyone living and working in the Washington D.C. area.  With our clothes sticking to the leather seats, heat and road rage was high but we guzzled the water and trudged on with vision.

I will get more into the company in future posts but what I can tell you is, Jen has a bright future.  At freaking 40 years old.  A fantastically bright healthful, spiritual, emotional, and financial future.  I have had a tough time of it for awhile and finally, my pieces are falling together.  So far, the journey has been awe-inspiring.

There is my excuse for missing time from the blog.  I have been working.  My arse off.  My boyfriend is a former motocross racer and currently works in restaurant management.  Anyone who is familiar with either of these occupations knows that your body is taking a serious beating.
Time to retire him.

My daughter is going to college in New York City.  Expenses?  Enough said here.

My father has been one of the most supportive people in my life, financially and emotionally.  Cheering me on through every A.D.D. adventure and accepting me completely.  I owe him big time.  I am Daddy's late bloomer.  Even at my age, it is important to make that man proud of me.

The trip to D.C. was a life-game changer.  As I was driving from the area back to Michigan in the wee hours of morning with the colors of sunrise barely reaching over the monuments, I wanted to laugh hysterically and cry my eyes out all at the same time.  Validation.  I love that word.  It gives me chill bumps.  Chasing my dreams and not settling for the hum-drum nine to fiver.  Or the 10 to 12 hour day, 6 day work week that collides your personal life into your all consuming job.  Taking yet another risk, but this time, RUNNING WITH IT.

The Rat Race.  I cannot do that.  I suck at it.  I have worked in jobs where I had to mentally shove myself out of bed and place my two feet onto the floor each day.   Cursing as I placed my keys into the ignition of my car day after day, a slave to the monotonous nine hour work day crammed with the stress of high-maintenance clients and uncontrollable schedules and deadlines.  Life Insurance.  Newspaper.  Radio.  Retail.  Real Estate.  Hotel.  Restaurant.  I am the jack of all trades.  Placing someone with A.D.D. into a neutral colored cubicle that restricts physical movement or has the atmosphere of continual redundancy is pure torture.  Only did that once and it was the longest two years of my life.

Maybe there is a reason that in the last eight months, I have been unable to find work.  When I was called for my first interview, I blew it.  Ridiculously blew it.  I have never blown an interview.  Everything does indeed happen for a reason.  I want to send a thank-you note to all of those companies  I submitted application after application...resume after resume.  Here is to the ones that thought I was not a right fit.  They were spot-on.

Thank you.  Thank you so very much.

I now share products with people that improve their lives.  Improve their health.   I speak from personal experience.  The It Works! products are life changing.  The company?  Positive.  The people?  Positive.  Rarely do I come across the Negative Nancy.  Who can really be negative about being healthy?  Negativity and health don't exactly go hand in hand.

 If something happens in my life and I need a time-out, it is cool.  My income will still be there.   I worked for a company that presented me with my "dream job."  To start, from the ground up, an entertainment newspaper.  This paper was my baby and other than my kids, I had never been so proud of something that I had created.  I named it.  Nurtured it.  Loved it.  I gave it everything that I had but apparently, that was not enough.  I was denied a leave of absence when my mother was placed in hospice.  I told that company to kiss my ass.  A memory that I replay over and over again when I am sweating through a D.C. scorcher and the menacing betrayer inside my head is whispering in my ear that I cannot have exactly what I want.

Stick around.  I am just getting started.



http://wrapwithjen.myitworks.com

Opening Ceremonies - Michigan Special Olympics Summer Games 2012

I was high as a kite (on happiness, hello) when we arrived back home from the opening ceremonies.  It has to be one of the coolest experiences EVER.

Here is Peyton in front of the Spartan Store sponsorship truck.

There was an athlete from another team on the field later that was jumping up and down while screaming his appreciation,

 "THANK YOU SPARTAN STORES!"

The energy was that positive.  

Makes me smile right now just thinking about it.

The athletes are paraded down a path into the Central Michigan University stadium with crazy cheering members of the Armed Forces, local law enforcement, cheerleaders from local high schools and the Knights of Columbus.  

I am so happy that Peyton has conquered his issues with crowds and noise because it was pretty intense.

I had never seen him so excited.  Ever.  It was an overwhelming feeling of pride, validation, fellowship and love.

There are 6,000 athletes, volunteers and chaperones participating in this year's Michigan Summer Games.  

The Coast Guard made a special trip to the Games from Traverse City for a fly by that drove the athletes wild.

Here is my handsome son with Michigan's beauty queens.  Miss Michigan is on the far left.

Central Michigan University Chippewa fullback, Adam Fenton, signing athlete t-shirts.

I think that Area 7 (ours) has the grooviest t-shirts for our athletes because they are tie dyed in Chippewa colors.

The Central Michigan University football team was so wonderful with our athletes, posing for endless pictures and endlessly signing autographs.  This meant a lot to me as a parent.

Oh yes.  My son is just under 6'.  This gives you an idea of how tall #73 is.

The Torch Run was breathtaking.  This runner brought the Torch into the stadium with a police motorcade surrounding him.  

Then there was a walking relay with the Torch for a trip around the track.

The Torch is marched up the Chippewa stadium steps to the top and with Armed Forces and Michigan law enforcement saluting, the flame is ignited by the final relay athlete.

I had chill bumps.

At the close of the ceremony, it was 53 degrees and damp.  I needed a Biggby coffee pretty bad at this point.  We thought the excitement for the day was over, but low and behold, we ran into the Campus Clowns.  Normally I really dislike clowns, but they were non-threatening, didn't make my heart race and they gave Peyton a foam clown nose.  When it comes to my personal fear of clowns, I will make an exception here.  They were wonderful to pose for a pic.

Then it was off to Biggby for my Caramel Marvel.  I almost got into a car accident trying to prematurely turn into Biggby's parking lot for my fix.

We did make it home safe and sound.

Ready for competition!

Enjoy your weekend on the right side of the grass.

Where in the H-E-Double Hockey Sticks Have I Been?

Okay, been off the radar for a week.....or so.  2 Days into my Project 365 and the A.D.D. kicks in so how about some pics now to catch me up and let ya know what I have been up to....

Here is Donni being the melodramatic actress that she is.  

Frustrated that our table has not been called yet to the buffet at Senior Banquet.

Peyton & Donni after the Senior Banquet.  

They are both OVER having their pictures taken.

Peyton (on the right) walking in his cap & gown.  Here is where I am getting pretty emotional.

Kid with the sunglasses on her way to receive her high school diploma?

Yep.  That is my kid.  The actress.  Sheesh.

The Growler, Ithaca Highschool's school newspaper, had a special graduation edition that was distributed with each grad program.  It is loaded with quote, pictures and memories of the senior class.

Here is my daughter's special section.  

Always one to speak her mind.

At home and on the stage.

My baby is going to the Big Apple....

Okay, of all days to have an extraordinarily bad hair day, it would be my kids' grad day.

I look like a freaking cockateel.

Horrific hair aside, I am so proud and it is taking every ounce of self discipline not to start bawling and embarrass my children.

Oh, here I go.  Just posting this makes me grab my box of Kleenex.

The day after graduation, we all piled into the Yukon and headed for Grand Haven, right on Lake Michigan.  Lovely place.

Some smartass decided to tweak this mural. 

 My sister said that the lady barely hanging on the back of the Vespa looks like Captain Morgan.

Donni on the pier.  

My sister & My Dad.

Now let's skip to Memorial Day.  My youngest, Isabella, is active in the Navy Sea Cadet Corps which gives kids the opportunity to have a taste of military life and gives them a jumpstart in rank if they choose the military as their career.  She has been in for three years.

Just makes you stop and really think about the real sacrifices that have been made.

The lives that have been lost and the survivors that are still sorting it all out.

After I had taken the kids home, it was such a beautiful day, I had to pull over on the side of the road and roll my window down.

I just sat quietly watching the wheat move in waves with the wind and then decided to take a shot.

I rolled down the passenger side window to give you a picture of newly planted corn.

So, as I am sure you are relieved to know, I am not lying somewhere in a ditch.

Just being busy with stuff and neglectful of this blog.

Enjoy your Thursday on the right side of the grass.

Project 365 - Day 2 - Jabba the Hamster & Our Cat Mau

My son recently purchased a hamster.  

He worked his arse off for everything from the $10 hamster to the $40 hamster habitat.

He named the hamster Kevin.  When my son is not around,
I call Kevin "Jabba the Hamster" instead.  

He is a fatty fatty two by four.  Can't fit through the kitchen door.  

Or barely through his little plastic blue hamster tunnel.

I had forgotten to shut my son's bedroom door and sure enough, Mau the wonder cat was on the prowl.  

Mau has taken extraordinary interest in Jabba the Hamster.  I must admit, it is fun to watch.

Upon entering the room and catching Mau, she turned and looked at me as if saying, "Whuuut?"

I shot this a few minutes ago but I have watched these two for close to an hour.

It's either this or Netflix again.

I am such a thrill seeker.

Project 365 - Day 1 - Skies Over Ithaca, Michigan.

I was driving my kids home from the Senior Banquet and pulled over to the side so that I could capture the sunset over the fields.

Gorgeous.

Stars for Streetlights Project 365 - Photo a Day

I am going to get my creative photo mojo back.

Come hell, high waters and over exposure.

As of today, I am officially participating in Project 365, created by fellow blogger, Stacie Grissom of the delightful read, Stars for Streetlights.

If you are wanting to take a cool dip into the wonderful world of life behind the lens, then this may be a  brilliant beginning for you.

Even if you are a seasoned professional, this could be a fun way to test or bust through your creative boundaries.

Or maybe you are like me.  Suffering from an inspirational block and need a gentle shove out of your Waiting Place.

You can go check out the details and grab a button if you are a blogger.