Hello Break!

HELLO CHRISTMAS BREAK!

I have been on break since the 10th but I have just been taking time to relax and do some fun things. I have also been trying to organize this blog so that I can hopefully start blogging every week day (I know I keep saying this but it will happen! Please have faith and patience in me). 

Any way, this past week I spent about 4 days in Chicago with R. We had so much fun! Since we are kind of poor college students we tried to keep this trip as low cost as possible which is hard to do in the city. We did a lot of window shopping and exploring. We did take a trip out to Alder Planetarium. Neither of us had been there so it was fun to try something new. We did not go and see a show there unfortunately because it was really really expensive but we looked at all the exhibits and learned a lot about space. After that we popped over to the Art Institute because that is our second home. It was free admission so the place was packed. The museum was all decked out for Christmas and it was so pretty. I really enjoyed the miniature rooms because several of them were re-done for holidays, it was adorable!

One of the days we went down to the Magnificent Mile and looked at all of the really expensive stores. I have this goal that one day I will be well off enough that I will be able to go into those stores and actually be able to buy something instead of just drooling all over it. We peeked into the Kate Spade store, the Chanel store, and the Louis Vuitton store. Everything was packed with people buying Christmas presents, it was a little overwhelming.

We wrapped the trip up by stopping into Old Town and going to a cute little French bakery. While there I picked up some of the best macaroons that I have had since being in France. They were so good. Old Town was a little busy with people doing some last minute shopping but there was a whole bunch of holiday cheer. It made me very happy.

Instead of going out to eat all the time like we usually do we took this time to try and cook by ourselves. It was an adventure to say the least. I made tacos and beans for us one night which was really fun. Then every morning for breakfast we had eggs, bacon, and toast (breakfast/brunch is both R's and mines favorite meal). Then R made a really good green chicken chili in the crock pot! I ate so much of it I thought I was going to explode, haha! 

On Friday I got to meet up with some of my Blue Lake co-workers and it was so great to see so many familiar faces again. I missed all of them so much. It was great to see Rachel after her trip down to South America. I was so happy to hear about her wedding engagement and hear about all the plans she is cooking up. I felt right at home again and it made my heart full with love and cheer. This get together was the cherry on top of the perfect ice cream sundae.

Over all it has been a pretty great break so far but I'm sad it's going by so fast.

I have another great piece of news! Tomorrow I get to see one of my friends from when I was little! She moved out to Arizona with her boyfriend before summer started and I haven't seen since then. We have kept in touch and she has been very happy with the move but man I miss her like cray. I'm so glad I get to see her tomorrow and catch up! I can't hear all about how living in the desert has been treating her. 

XOXO

ZMH

The view of Chicago from the front steps of Alder

Me at the Christkrindle market

The Art Institute was all decked out

Miniature room

Another miniature room

R's view from the 16th floor of his place 

Kate Spade store

Hey there Coco

Date Night

As I write this post I am sitting on our couch in our apartment's living room not feeling to swell. It is 2:30am and all I want to do is sleep but alas I cannot. I can already tell from the last two nights this week is going to be really rough. (I also apologize that my postings will be very sporadic until further notice because I just don't have enough time to sit down and write up a bunch of posts to queue, I'm sorry)

Moving on from that this past weekend was pretty darn great. R came into town for my sororities date night. We usually only do date night first semester instead of a fall formal. This year we combined our date night with our brother fraternity, the Knickerbockers, so we could have more people and more fun.

On Saturday we all drove up to Grand Rapids for a very early (but delicious) dinner. We went to this amazing Hibachi grill and had so much fun taking pictures at the restaurant. They had a really amazing bridge with a pond that we all got to take our pictures on, the perfect backdrop. After dinner we all dispersed to do things before we headed to our after party.

R and I took a detour to downtown GR to grab some coffee from Madcap Coffee to keep up our energy for the rest of the night. From there we swung by both our places to quickly change shoes so we could dance the night away and then off we were to one of my sisters houses to party it up.

Everyone was there with their dates and we all laughed the night away. We had a great time playing beer pong, dancing our feet off, and trying to sing along to every rap part of each song (well at least I did and let me tell you did I embarrass myself). 

That night I volunteered to be the designated driver since I can't drink anyway. I got to help out a lot of sisters and brothers get home safely which helped me sleep a lot easier that night. Everyone was a doll and really helpful. 

Overall it was a pretty fabulous night and weekend. I wish it was longer but what can you do, it always seems like the most fun weekends seem to slip by without even a warning.

Are any of your sororities having a date night soon? Did you already have one? Or did you have a formal? 

XOXO

ZMH

My mama and one of her BFFs

Obligatory mama & baby Zoe picture

Rand I 

The lovely ladies of Alpha Gamma Phi (minus one or two)

The Shenanigans of Rachel and Zoe

So one of my housemates is Rachel and she is a great friend of mine. We haven't known each other very long but it feels like we are old friends. Rachel and I have a great time together mostly because we are both very dysfunctional. 

Both of us just love to laugh, distract each other, and eat. A habit of ours it to starting YouTube hopping around funny videos laughing our butts off and putting off homework until we absolutely have to do it. This was the case just recently. The other night I was laying in bed signing off of my phone but I got distracted by a BuzzFeed video. It's title was "Grown Men Get Scared At A Haunted House". I LOVE these videos because peoples reactions are hilarious (if I was in their situation though I would be curled up in a ball crying asking to leave). So there I am laying in bed around 1am laughing my butt off at this video (also you hear some guy fart and I found that great as well). 

Rachel from downstairs texts me "What are you laughing at?".  I quickly post the video on Facebook and text her back telling her to watch it. Several seconds later I can hear her downstairs laughing. Once I got all my giggles out from the video and hearing Rachel laugh I fell asleep.

Fast forward to the next afternoon. I came home from work and asked her how she liked the video. She immediately started laughing. We then continued to put off our piles of homework and errands we needed to do to search on YouTube for funny scared reactions in haunted houses. Needless to say about an hour and a half passed before we had to quite because our stomachs hurt from laughing to much. Oh boy.

I love my friend Rachel because she is a gem and makes me happy. 

I put some of the videos we thought were hilarious down below. Tell me which ones you like or let me know if there's a funny video you like (I also personally love parodies). 

BuzzFeed's video "Grown Men Get Scared At A Haunted House"

I love Ellen so much, this is another one of my favorites

And of course she decides to send Amy in a house with Andy

XOXO

ZMH

P.S.

I will hopefully continue this post as a re-occurring thing to keep you updated on Rachel and I's shenanigans

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

No this post isn't about Christmas, or the fall, or summer vacation. This post is about something not a lot of people know about but everyone should because well, it's the most wonderful time to of the year.

Here at Hope College we are known for two very old traditions that make us really special. The first is The Pull. That tradition is the oldest college tradition in the nation and if you Google it you will have no problems finding out about it (TFM even wrote an article about it). Now that tradition is fabulous, I love it a lot but I'm not here to talk about that one.

I am here to talk about Nykerk! I LOVE Nykerk so much. It is amazing and being an alumni of the tradition makes me love it more because as alumni I get to enjoy watching it this year, even though I'm dying to be participating in it again.

Let's break Nykerk down. So this tradition is made for the women of Hope College. It is a competition involving song, play, and oration against odd and even year or freshmen and sophomores. The boys participate as being morale boys by giving the girls encouraging words, gifts, making the girls laugh, and building sets for play. 

Nykerk song, the event I participated in both as a freshmen and sophomore, is the most popular portion. Most of the girl participate in song because you don't have to be a fabulous singer and everyone gets in. As a freshmen in song you learn a song that's roughly 3 minutes long. Along with this you learn crispy hand motions to go along with the lyrics. For the sophomores in song they get to do a medley. This is under 10 minutes and follows whatever theme the coaches decide on. Nykerk play is for the out going, goofy, and hilarious girls. Play consists of about 10-12 girls depending on the script that year. The play lasts 15 minutes and contains inside jokes about Hope and just funny costumes. For this you need to go through an audition process. I tried out one year but I'm just not the on demand funny type of girl, my funny just kinda happens when I least expect it. Nykerk oration is one girl. This girl auditioned and now gets to stand in front of the audience and judges and say a memorized 8 minute speech that she wrote. She is full of poise, grace, and smarts. 

The whole of Nykerk is judged by local people from Holland and professor from Hope's campus. Now you may think why are only freshmen and sophomores allowed in? Well wrong! The juniors and seniors can apply to be on the Nykerk executive board as well as apply to be coaches for the moral boys, song girls, play girls, and orators. 

Overall Nykerk is a great thing and I'm so glad it's Nykerk season. Here are some photos and videos to show you a little more about it.

My freshmen year with my roommate

Freshmen year

Sophomore year song girls, morale boys, and the coaches

Sophomore song girls get to let out their stress by pie-ing their moral boys, we love you!

Our freshmen song "How Will I Know" by Whitney Houston

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NrrrYJ6-qfE

Our sophomore medley of Disney songs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pk5es4kW0N8

XOXO

ZMH

Just Three Little Letters

So I don't know if you could tell but I love my sorority and my sisters so much. I haven't known many of them for long but it feels like they have been apart of my life for forever. 

The last couple days we have been really busy with getting service events into our schedules, planning rush, and getting ready for homecoming.

We are all insanely busy and so getting everything organized and going has been kind of a challenge. Luckily we have an amazing president and vice president to help us achieve all of our goals and get things done. 

I'm so happy that I went greek last winter and it kind of makes me wish I rushed as a freshmen so I had more time with these girls but everything just seemed to line up better sophomore year. I'm proud to be an alpha gamma phi sister and carry on our traditions and legacy.

Can you tell we are in the same family line

My sister B and I at the Alzheimer's 5k walk

Our information table during Homecoming weekend

XOXO

ZMH

Not really the Windy City

Okay so fall break was at the beginning of October. Hope College this is our first break of the fall semester. No we do not get Labor Day off because rumor has it the college was having problems where they would loose a ton of freshmen after that break. Hope starts classes maybe not even a week before Labor Day so freshmen were not getting much of an experience of college and just becoming very homesick. This break wasn't working so they changed it so that we would still have class on Labor Day.

Well when fall break comes everyone gets super duper excited. It's just a 5 day weekend but it's nice to have a little break before we have to make the next stretch to Thanksgiving break. 

For fall break I generally stay in Holland and hang out at home and try to get ahead in my classes. Not this fall break. It had been about a good 3 months since I last saw my boyfriend R in person, that was before school started!!! So I bought train tickets and called him up and said I was coming down to Chicago for several days to see him. Needless to say he was enthralled and could not wait.

Now generally when I come down we do the same things. We go eat at the same resturants, see the same things, and shop in the same places. Now the places we normally go are fantastic but it gets boring after a while. So this time I told him we were going to throw in some new adventures this time, once he heard that he went right into researching things and planning surprises. 

We of course went to a couple of our favorite food spots, made a visit to the Art Institute of Chicago, and popped our heads into our favorite shops. But the news things we added were AWESOME! My dad suggested we go to the Modern Contemporary Art Museum to see the David Bowie is Now exhibit. Let me tell you it was freaking awesome! If you have a chance go to it, it is totally worth the money and time. Of course you couldn't take pictures in the exhibit because of copyright issues but man it was killer. Besides that we wondered into a few new eateries that exceeded our expectations.

 I was also able to drop into a ballet class at the Joffery Ballet on the Sunday that I was in Chicago. I have been wanting to do this for a very long time and I finally had the time and chance to do so. The class was a beginning ballet class but that was fine with me, I was able to really focus and work on my technique. I woke up the next morning so sore it took me 15 minutes to get out of bed, that is a sign I worked super hard!

The one big surprise R had for me that weekend was that he took me to the Lincoln Park Zoo. It was so incredible. It was both our first time there and now I know it won't be our last. It is the last and largest free zoo in the country and it did not disappoint. The animals were lively and looked happy as clams (there were no clams). We spent the WHOLE day there and I wish we had had more time. After that we wondered over to the Botanical Garden which was right next to the Zoo. So many pretty plants and such a pretty building. 

Well that's enough of me jabbering. I'll leave you with some photos I took from that weekend and maybe I'll share more stories later on! 

I was maybe just a *little* excited

R and I have always seen this resturaunt from the street, it's on the second floor of a building, and we finally found the enterence and tried it out. So good! 

The Grand Lux Cafe

Saul Steinburg

It returned after being gone for 2 years

One of my favorite paintings

The sketch/rough draft for it

Monet's bedroom

Oh hey there hay stacks

Cubism?

Hey Picasso, always good to see you

Uh, I think that is a pipe

I understand it

A picture of my in front of a Pollock for my dad

A little panoramic photo from the bridge that connects the Art Institute to Millennium Park

First time at the Rainforest Cafe, the gorilla scared me a bit

Hi flamingos! 

Tiny tiger walking into my ear

HUMP DAY!

Is it white with black stripes or black with white stripes?

Some long necked horses

Dancing in gardens is always fun

I'm trying to touch the light, so close!

Hark! We've stopped a wild Z-girl

Sprinkles cupcakes: mocha, cinnamon sugar (with frosting, duh), toasted marshmallow, and apple cinder

XOXO

ZMH

I'm Sorry, Please Don't Hate Me

Hello to anyone who follows my posts!

I am so sorry for not updating you all in forever. My last couple weeks, yes it has been some time, have been super chaotic and busy. Things just keep popping up for me and then once I'm done I just crash and go to bed. 

School has been crazy with papers, projects, and trying to stay on time with everything. I feel like time just slips through my fingers now a days. I have also been having a lot of events going on with Alpha Gamma Phi. We have had several service events, meetings, parties, and let's not forget about homecoming weekend. Besides those two things I have been working a lot! I love to go to work because I love to make money so that I can go and enjoy doing things with my friends and sisters.

But any-who let me give you a quick run down of what has been happening in my life lately. 

Hope College had fall break at the beginning of the month and I went to stay the long weekend at my boyfriends in Chicago. We had so much fun that weekend doing new things and visiting old places.  We ate SO much food, saw a ton of great art, visited an amazing zoo, and I even got to take a class at the Joffery Ballet.

After that I came back to school and went right back to hitting the ground running. I had many meetings for random things and trying to figure out housing for next year, yikes so far away but so close! This weekend was homecoming at Hope and so that came with many events that I had to participate in for the sorority. It was all fun and games but boy am I glad it's over... I'm exhausted.

Oh and let's not forget I turned 21 this past Monday! I did not do anything that I normally don't do on a Monday. Except my dad did take me out to eat that evening to one of our favorite delis in Grand Rapids. That day though I did feel older. It's weird being 21, it just feels different.

So there's a quick recap of what I have been doing. I will try to update you all on a more regular basis. I would love to update you all everyday but I'm just starting out with this whole blogging thing and trying to figure out what to do. If you have any simple helpful tips feel free to let me know! I will try to squeeze in some time in the next couple of days to queue up a few posts to give you more details about what you've missed. I feel like that is a solid first step to getting this blogging thing down.

Well that is it and I will just leave you with that. Sorry this post wasn't more exciting.

Thanks for all of your patience and support.

Love you.

XOXO

ZMH

Is It Still Monday?

Holy cow today has felt like three days. I did a lot but also nothing. Do you know what I'm talking about?

I think it felt like the day was so long because I didn't sleep very well last night so I was pretty tired, boo. So the plan is to go to bed early tonight. Or at least to be sitting in bed relaxing before midnight. 

Today I got up early for some daddy/daughter time. I met up with my dad downtown at one our favorite breakfast places, The Windmill. We sat and chatted and just enjoyed some great food. Afterwards he dropped me off for my first class of the day and I hit the ground running.

I went to class like normal and talked for a bit to my middle school crush for a bit. This guy I liked ALOT in middle school, he was like my first crush. To be honest the inner middle school me still gets giddy when I see him. So silly. Anyway, afterward I had lunch with some of my sorority sisters and we caught up and just enjoyed each others company. 

Off to my next class! Man was that class long and boring. Now I like the material but going to class is just like taking a million sleeping pills, snooze! But afterwards I came back to the apartment and did some homework and hung out. 

I had a dinner date this evening with two of my sorority sisters. We went out and got sushi at this great new sushi place downtown. It was so great to just let loose and have fun with them! We ate so much food and laughed a lot. 

Overall it may have been a crazy busy day but it was so wonderful.
Today made me remember how great of a life I have and that I need to remember to cherish everything.

XOXO

ZMH

Selfie Sunday

No today was not full of selfies because it was Sunday. I took this day to just have me time. It was so wonderful after this crazy busy week I had. 

I went up to Grand Rapids and went to Woodland Mall and several of the other shopping spots near there. I just wondered around the stores and enjoyed being by myself. I of course need some new shoes and clothes but the trip was pretty unsuccessful.

I did walk out of DSW with a brand new pair of heels. Now I have been on the hunt for the perfect pair of nude heels. The problem for me was that they were either super expensive or just not the right shade of nude for my skin tone. These heels I found though were perfect and I couldn't pass them up. They are Madden Girl and were under $50! I would call that a steal.

I cannot wait to break out these bad boys with a super cute dress or skirt. I will keep you posted about what I decided to pair them with for their first appearance. 

XOXO

ZMH

P.S.

Can we just take a moment to appreciate how bruised and awesome looking my knees are right now. The things I do for dance.