Day Trip and My Dad

So on Tuesday I had a lovely daddy/daughter day with my dad. We decided a couple weeks ago we both wanted to do a day trip to Chicago together before I left for camp for the summer. We sat and planned what day would be best and what we wanted to do, that was decided by wanting to just eat the whole time!

Well the days started to slip away fast and on Tuesday we decided to go! We got up super early and drove down to Michigan City to catch the commuter train. The commuter train is always fun, fast, and much cheaper then the Amtrak. Don't get me wrong, I love Amtrak but if I'm doing a day trip I'd rather catch the train in MC and have a longer day in Chicago.

We got into Chicago about 10:30ish and started towards the loop. I showed my dad where R's dorm was and showed him a few of the stores and cafes we liked to go to down there. From there we trekked over to the Magnificent Mile. Dad and I both wanted to go to Eataly for lunch. Dad had not been there before and I had only ever wandered through and grabbed a treat from the Nutella bar. 

We were seated right away upstairs, we lucked out and got in before the big rush just after 11am. We were seated in a window seat and were able to peer down at the cars going by and the people wandering about down below. All the workers were friendly and nice and made our experience even greater. Dad and I took a long time trying to decide what we wanted because it all looked so good! I picked a pasta dish finally and he picked out a pizza. As soon as the plates were placed on the table dad and I started splitting things up and chowed down. Holy moly was it delish! If you have a chance to eat at Eataly I highly recommend it, it was fantastic! 

The pizza we got had mozzarella, a type of prosciutto, and basil pesto sauce!

The pasta was el dente with a type of parmesan on it as well as some oil and black pepper.

My dad and I share a big love of cheese, we were drooling over all of the cheeses.

Needless to say our first thing in Chicago was a big hit! We were so happy and stuffed after lunch that we had enough energy to continue our day! From Eataly we wondered in and out of countless stores on the Magnificent Mile. We had fun ooh-ing and ah-ing at all of the pretty things we wanted yet could not afford. Half-way through our day we took a pit stop at Sprinkles and picked up a few cupcakes for the week and then kept window shopping.

Around 4pm we were both starting to hit a wall so we headed back towards Millennium Park and took an early dinner at Hot Wok Cool Sushi, one of my all time favorite places to eat in the city. We chowed down and took a break from the rain. Afterwards we decided we saw everything we wanted to and head back to the train station. There we took a table at Starbucks and people watched until our train came.

Overall it was a wonderful daddy/daughter date. I will miss my dad so much this summer but I am glad we were both able to take one last full day off together to just have some fun.

Today is Father's day and sadly my dad had to go into work for most of the day but I hope my present for him makes him super happy and hopefully we will be able to go grab some food tonight, let's be honest it will probably be IHOP. My dad is the best guy in the world and he is so strong. I have always been a daddy's girl and I couldn't be any luckier to have him as my dad. After my mom passing about about 5 years ago he has been very strong and hard working to keep me happy and to keep our family going. Without his constant support and big hugs I don't think I would have accomplished as much as I have these last couple of years.

Thank you dad for being the best! <3

XOXO

ZMH

Regrets

I feel like most people have a few regrets throughout their life. You know their usually simple ones like not snapping up that cute pice of clothing when you had the chance or having that second piece of cake before exercising, both of these situations I have been in.

Now those aren't really the regrets I'm having. I go through some little mood swings at times of stress or when I just feel like life isn't going right. I have come to the conclusion these bad and sad moods come about when the weather isn't great out despite me loving that gloomy, rainy weather. 

Yesterday I took a day trip with my dad to Chicago. We both wanted to go before I had to go to camp for work and we also were due for a daddy/daughter date. It was such a great day but sadly it was pretty rainy all day and a little chilly. Now we both knew it was going to rain so we brought umbrellas but it was just much worse then we expected. Overall like I said before a great day but then today was still pretty gloomy here in Holland and having both days back to back kind of set me off.

When I get in my depressed/sad mood it generally happens at night before I go to bed and I start thinking about things which leads me to my eyes filled with tears and lots of snot.

Now tonight I had on my mind of not wanting to go to camp because that meant I had to go back to college. I don't want to go back because my grades aren't doing great and I am super stressed. I also am not in love with where I am going but that's another problem that is linked to not being in love with Holland, I just don't belong here. That lead to me starting to be unhappy with my relationship. Now that's a huge, big problem that has come up recently but I will post another time about that because it is just a huge thing.

Overall I cried myself dry, bundled up, went downstairs, and turned on the TV. I have relaxed a bit and am feeling much better. I though a quick post about these little problems would help and also make me realize I am very blessed to be where I am in life and must take everything in stride.

XOXO
ZMH

Zoo Day

So last week my boyfriend R took me to the zoo! We went all the way over to Binder Park Zoo because it is quiet amazing. I was super excited because I hadn't been to the zoo in forever and this was our last big date/adventure before he left for camp for the summer.

It was such a long day but it was wonderful. We left Holland at about 11am and arrived at the zoo by 12:30pm. When we got there we had arrived at the same time as several elementary school field trip classes. Being around all the excited little kids made me even more excited to be at the zoo and also made me want to pick up and child and steal it, they were so cute! Once R and I got in the zoo we wondered around a few of the small animal exhibits and petting zoo before heading off to the Africa portion of the zoo.

We had a nice little train ride around the zoo, a lovely lunch, fed some giraffes, and saved a couple turtles.

After seeing everything it was about 3:30pm-ish and then stopped at a Tim Horton's for a little caffeine boost. On our way home we had to stop and save a turtle on the side of the road. After helping out the little guy we continued on our way home.

Overall it was such a great day! Any day can be made great if you go to the zoo!

A beautiful bald eagle

A couple of kookaburras

Don't mind the free roaming peacocks

Hello Mr.Owl, this was a beautiful owl who had been rescued because he lost an eye and was struggling out in the world.

Prairie dog

Look up in the tree a red panda!

A male white peacock

Llamas!

The cheetahs were so beautiful and were purring away. They reminded me of my kitties at home.

A very old tortoise

A couple of monkeys in a tree

I got to feed and pet this beautiful giraffe

One of my favorite animals, zebras

A couple of wallabies

And to finish off the trip a few cockatoos

XOXO
ZMH

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