CHRISTMAS!

Well today has been such a great and wonderful day!

I was not able to get a lot of photos today but I will try to paint the scene for you.

Last night my Aunt Shirley, Uncle David, cousin Mercedes, my dad, and I all opened our Christmas presents because we wouldn't have had the time today. Santa was nice enough to come by and drop off our few presents we asked from him super early. So last night held a lots of excitement as Mercedes and I opened gifts of things we really wanted.

I received Kate Spade's book Places to Go People to See, Banksy's newest book You Are an Acceptable Level of Threat, a whole bunch of clothes, several gift cards, a external mobile battery, and a soda stream! I had a feeling I would get a lot of the items because those were things I constantly asked for but the soda stream was a complete surprise. My dad did really well and he was so happy to see my excitement.

Today was a loooonngg day. Family started coming over around 12:30pm and everyone finally started taking off around 8pm. Holy cow it was exhausting but fun! For Christmas we have a little ham but we celebrate with several different homemade soups. Soup is a big comfort food for everyone in the Hoover family so when Christmas comes around everyone is more then excited.

My Grandpa was a Christmas baby and this year he turned 90 years old! We are throwing a big party with all of the family and his friends tomorrow so we kept it low key today for him so he wouldn't be super tired tomorrow. We spent the night looking through old photos of him when he was young and it is incredible to see everything that he has been through. My aunts, uncles, and dad were army brats so they were always moving around the world. We have photos of my Grandpa and Grandma in all different parts of the world.

I am constantly surprised by things my Grandpa did. He survived both World War II and the Vietnam war. He raced formula 500 cars and he was a woodworker. Grandpa Hoover has always been active and into things and old age is just staring to hit him. He is slowly starting to get really slow and forgetting things but it's all okay because he was able to do so much with his life.

Overall today was an amazing Christmas and I couldn't ask for a better one.

XOXO

ZMH 

There was to much excitement today that Grandpa and I had to take a break. We bond over naps.

Travels

Merry Christmas eve!

I hope every one's holiday season has been wonderful so far and filled with love and joy.

Since my mom passed my dad and I generally travel down to Kokomo, IN on Christmas eve to be with family. It is always a busy time of year for the Hoover's because not only do we have a huge family dinner but Christmas is also my Grandpa's birthday!

What a lucky guy to be a Christmas baby.

This year he is turning 90 years old and all of his children have worked together to throw a big party for him with all of his friends and family.

So today my dad and I drive down to Indiana and get right to work helping my aunts cook and get ready for the party. Wishes us to have not too many stress meltdowns, light traffic, and good weather!

Happy holidays everyone!

XOXO

ZMH 

A Friend Is A Friend No Matter How Far Away They Go

Yesterday I had such a wonderful day with a few old friends.

Hannah, Caitlin, and I have been friends since about 1st grade. We grew up together going to dance classes, school trips, and many many after school play dates.

As we all grew up each of us came in and out of each others lives depending on where we all were. Hannah was always committed to ballet to the point we thought she was going to go professional. She was hard to stay in touch with because she was always at the studio but she always was around when we needed her. Caitlin was in the grade below Hannah and I so when we got out of multi-age classes that left Caitlin to start finding new friends that were her age. She was also always around but had different sets of friend groups she would bounce to and from.

Both Hannah and I are currently at Hope College. We have been able to still talk and do things together since the campus is pretty small. When Caitlin went to college she became distant and soon found out she wasn't where she wanted to be. From there Caitlin took a huge leap and moved out to Arizona with her boyfriend. Hannah and I talked with her through text and Facebook but it wasn't the same.

Caitlin surprised us by coming home for Christmas! All three of us got together and went ice skating and just hung around chatting. It felt like no time had passed between us.

We love ice skating so much. As children our home town would make an ice rink out of the local baseball field. All three of us would beg our parents to take us there almost every single night to spend hours and hours skating. We would create games, drink lots of cocoa, and try to be figure skaters. We had so many great memories from those years that ice skating yesterday seemed like the best thing to do.

Overall I am so happy I got to see my friends. I am so happy to know that no matter what they will always be there to support me and build me up when I need it.

XOXO

ZMH 

Caitlin, myself, and Hannah

We stopped in the Amway Grand Plaza and pretended to be fancy

Life is Rough

Boy oh boy it's for sure the end of a semester.

Everyone is stressed, falling apart, and freaking out (including me).

I never look forward to this time of year because it just gives me so much anxiety. It doesn't even matter that I will be home in three weeks for Christmas break because I just keep thinking about all of the things I have to do in between that time.

Let me start with my list of bad's:

1. My iPhone will not charge. Correction it is being very picky about charging. I will hook it up and it will occasionally charge for maybe 30 minutes if I'm lucky. So I will be going to the AT&T store this weekend with my dad and hopefully get this situation fixed.

2. I found out I am lactose and dairy intolerant. YAY...not. I guess this has always been around but it recently started turning into such a big problem that I was dry heaving and getting dizzy from feeling so ill. I hate this because I live off of dairy products but good thing I have always liked soy milk.

3. I had a huge 10page ROUGH DRAFT, mind you, due yesterday and I only had 2pages. Thankfully I was not the only one but still. I keep looking at my 2pages and walking away because this paper and class is awful and I don't want to do it. 

4. My other three housemates are driving me up the walk. Don't get me wrong I love Rachel but holy cow am I ready to be home. Not everyone is doing their chores, there is stuff everywhere, and all of this is making me more stressed. I can't even hide in my room because Rachel has almost taken over the whole thing. Don't worry I will be giving everyone a piece of my mind very soon.

So yea, that is about it. Oh wait one more!

5. There will be some significant charges next semester for the sorority to fund different G.O. (Greek Orientation or Pledge) that I don't know if I can afford. Don't get me wrong, I love the sorority but I just cannot afford all of those extra little costs especially for events that I cannot be at because I have work. It's annoying is all.

Okay so now that is all.

I just needed to vent this and have someone else hear it that wouldn't immediately try to make everything positive and tell me it will be okay. That's nice that people want to give me support and I love it but sometimes a girl just has to be mad and think that there will be no good outcome. Just for a little bit let me wallow and be mad. Just a little bit, that's all I ask.

XOXO

ZMH