Four Beautiful Years

Happy belated Memorial Day everyone! I hope everyone had a great long weekend and also a safe one!

This past Memorial Day weekend for me was relaxing and a lot of fun. On Saturday it was mine and R's 4 year anniversary. We have been dating since the end of sophomore year in high school. Needless to say I wouldn't trade these last 4 years with him for anything else. We have had our ups and downs like any other couple but it has all been worth it. We didn't do much which I was completely fine with. He got me a few presents that I can use while I'm camp this summer (only a couple more weeks until I leave!). My present for him is currently being made and is not finished yet but I'll be sure to keep you posted once that is all finished. After the present giving we went out and took a little walk out at the Saugatuck Dunes State park with Lilly the dog.

R is a guy who LOVES to walk. He will just walk and walk and walk for hours. For me it is the opposite. I do enjoy a nice walk in a city or downtown but going on a super ling, 3 mile, hike is not usually my idea of fun. I toughed it out though and had a lot of fun exploring the dunes. Once we finished our little hike we went over to his parents house and celebrated his mother's birthday. 

My dad came and our friend D stopped by for a little while which was great. I helped out R's dad in the kitchen and we had delicious homemade stir fry and a huge campfire. We ended the night with a delicious cake made by R's little sister and with some ice cream sandwiches. After all of that I went back home and went straight to bed. All of the fresh air and hiking really tuckered me out!

The rest of the weekend was spent with R and my dad and many more campfires. 

Memorial day was a nice relaxing day for me as well. I got up super early and went to the parade and boy am I glad I got up early. It was so much fun and I loved seeing all of the local Hollanders there supporting our veterans and deployed. 

Other then that my weekend was perfect! I am so glad to have such a loving and supporting boyfriend who accepts me for me. I will be sure to cherish all these last few weekends with him, his family, and my dad before we both head off to different camps for the summer.

How was every one's Memorial day weekend?

XOXO
ZMH

Scallops and Lilly

So here in Holland it has been kind of a cold start to summer. We just can't seem to shake winter apparently. Well it is finally starting to get warm and even hot out! This weekend it is suppose to get up in the 80's but we will just have to wait and see if the weather people are correct on that.

About a week ago we had a super hot afternoon and I was so happy after going through a couple cold days. These cold days were in the high 50's so not bad for Michigan but after the winter we had I just want some nice hot days! This one afternoon was amazing so I took total advantage of it.

I got all dolled up in a new dress I had bought several days before. I was waiting for a nice warm day to break it out so I wouldn't have to wear a cardigan. So I got dressed up, picked up my boyfriend and we headed downtown. We enjoyed a late lunch of breakfast food, our favorite, at the Windmill Restaurant. After stuffing our faces we went over to the local screen printing shop to visit an old high school art teacher and some friends. It was nice to catch up with everyone since it has been awhile. 

After wandering around downtown I decided I wanted to get photos of my outfit because I felt super cute and preppy. I whipped out my iPhone and asked my boyfriend to snap a few photos. He tried his hardest to get good photos but I have to train him better on what I want. You would think being in art school he would know how to take really awesome photos but I guess that's one thing he has never tried out.

So here are a couple photos, once again sorry that they aren't fabulous but at least I have a few photos of the outfit!

So I fell in love with this simple navy blue scallop dress. I found it without even looking. I was at Marshall's with my dad and I was perusing random racks not really looking for anything and then BAM! This dress is amazing and totally embodies the preppy sense of style I have been trying to lean towards lately. I paired it with a fabulous Lilly Pulitzer bag, some costume jewelry from my grandma, a big floppy hat, and some cute wedges from Macy's. You can't really see the wedges detail but oh my goodness they are adorable! They are wicker around the wedge and have a very tiny pink and blue flower pattern on them that helped bring my jewelry's color in with my dress and bag.

Needless to say I am in love with this preppy outfit and you might see me in the dress many many times on this blog.

I hope you enjoyed today's post! 

XOXO

ZMH

Tulip Time

So college is over for the summer and I can finally relax a bit before I have to pack up and move up to camp.

I really enjoy when the semester ends because here in Holland the following week is Tulip Time! It's like Holland is just waiting for all of us college students to be done with school and then Holland throws a week long celebration to help us kick off summer vacation.

Tulip Time for native Hollanders, like myself, can either be a bunch of fun and you love it or you absolutley hate this time of year. I know many people from Holland who always plan their vacations during this week so that they miss the whole ordeal.

Now Tulip Time has been going on for quiet a while. It is a week long celebration of our beautiful Tulips all around the city and to also celebrate our Dutch influences in the city. There are three different parades: the Volksparade (the people's parade), the Kinderparade (the children's parade), and the Muzeikparade (the music parade). The parades are probably my favorite part of the whole week, besides the carnival food! The parades consist of a lot of floats, beauty queens, school children in dutch costumes, and lots of really cool local and national marching bands. Everyone comes out to see the parades, rain or shine, and really show their support of the walkers by cheering and screaming at people they know or their favorite floats.

There are so many other things that make up Tulip Time it is so crazy. There is a Tulip Time 5k run, fireworks, two carnival locations, dutch dancing showcases, a quilt show, and an arts and crafts show. Those are only a few things. We also have many different theater shows through the week as well as a special guest each year who is also our grand marshall for the last parade. This year our special guest was Bill Cosby! It was so neat to see everyone really excited about this because we haven't had someone so famous before here just for Tulip Time.

I love Tulip Time and enjoy everything about it! Growing up I didn't like it so much but growing up around it I realize that I love the aspect of community that comes out. Sure I do get annoyed by the traffic and tourists but I just have to remember it's only for a week. Tulip Time is a great time to visit Holland if your planning a visit, just make sure to make reservations for a hotel at least a month in advance! Haha!

Here is the link to the Tulip Time official website:

http://www.tuliptime.com/ 

Here are some photos I took from this year, Enjoy!

We always have our local hero's from past and present in the parades. It's great to see how much pride and honor our community has for those brave men and women.

There are always a few very interesting and eye catching group.

Holland High school is the biggest high school in the area and they take their Dutch pride very seriously. 

Holland High School marching band

Holland Christian baton team, I always wanted to be one...let's be honest I still want to be one.

I love seeing all of the colorful flags that the color guard teams carry. Their so pretty!

We have beauty queens from all over come to be in our parades. This is the Bavarian queen and her court from Frankenmouth, MI

Of course no parade is complete without Sinter Claus

My friend Rachel, she was super excited for the parade...the picture doesn't really capture her excitement.

There are always really nice old cars in the parades too.

Zeeland High School marching band

Zeeland High School marching band

Oh hello Ronald McDonald!

Thing 1 and Thing 2 creating chaos at Tulip Time.

The lovely Salvation Army ladies of Holland in dutch costume.

 Zeeland Christian marching band

 The local old folks from Evergreen Commons

Holland Christian marching band

Well I hope you enjoyed this post! I am sorry I didn't get many photos of the dutch dancers and their costumes but if you follow the link I posted above you will see many photos of the dancers.

XOXO
ZMH

Spring Fling and End of the Year

So I am officially done with my sophomore year! I am now a junior and half way done with my undergraduate school career! I cannot believe I am almost done with schooling and onto being a real adult. This time in my life seems to be going so fast and I cannot believe it, I love it but also want it to slow down. I kind of have a plan of what I will be doing and where I want to be but not completely.

So here at Hope College on the last day of official classes starting at 3pm we have a celebration for the whole school called Spring Fling. This is a huge picnic outside in out pine grove in the middle of campus. There are lots of blow-up bounce toys, photo booths, and zip lines. Spring Fling is a great time to relax and have a little bit of fun with your friends before you lock yourself in your room to study for finals. Here are a few pictures of me with my friends at Spring Fling:

My friends Stephanie and Yiran waiting in line to zip line! 

This is what I get for leaving my phone in the hands of Stephanie

Stephanie would be so happy to learn that this photo is being posted. Hehe.

Thanks for the candid photo Steph!

So I attempted to ride the bull at Spring Fling but I couldn't get on it. It was too difficult and not worth my time.

I found a few fellow Alpha Gamma Phi sisters at Spring Fling as well!

Three of the four roommates who will be in Parkview Apartments next year!

Aren't they just the cutest???

So now that exam week is over I can focus on relaxing and preparing to go to camp for the summer as a counselor. Cannot wait to enjoy these next couple of weeks doing absolutely nothing! Hello summer vacation! 

XOXO

ZMH