I had a colonoscopy. It’s one of those things you start to hear about in your 40’s from your older friends and you store it away in the “that’s a long time away for me yet” category. You turn 50; your doctor tells you to make an appointment. You come back at 51 and they schedule it while you're standing there. You cancel the first one and are then told canceling again is not a good idea. You block it out of your mind until a few days before and then figure you'd better read

Happy Weekend! I had a great weekend last weekend! I had the privilege of attending a concert with a friend who works for a local radio station. I helped her at her booth for awhile and in the meantime, was totally entertained by Building 429 and For King and Country. Let me just say they were both very good, but I love For King and Country. They have fantastic energy and put on a great show. Not to mention their music is awesome! I had to include a picture, even though it’s

Happy weekend again and it looks like a good one! We had a very busy week last week hosting my husband's study group here in Michigan. What a great group of people from all over the US. This is a business thing, but every time we get together I get to know someone better and I love that! Catching up on their family and hearing about where they live is always so interesting. There is never a dull conversation and you hear a lot of different accents. The party we hosted for the

Did I really just type August? Nooooooo! I don’t think I have ever loved a summer more! I do not want it to be done. However, I did see some boots in a store recently and thought, “Oh yes, I do love boots.” You do need fall weather for boots! Anyways, our weekend was work work work! We are busy getting things in shape to entertain a group from out-of-state here at our cottage this week. There will be about 40 people on our deck for cocktails and appetizers. Yes, cocktails. A

This week is all about being humble. There are many definitions and examples of being humbled and I would like to share with you how I was humbled this past weekend. On Friday night, I had a friend out at our cottage with her daughter and we had a girl's night planned. FYI, girl's night has a whole different meaning now. I love this friend so much because she has totally come alongside me in this new way of life. She even bought a bike! Just as we were about to head out on th

“Lord, help me to be good-but not just yet.” - St Augustine (or Nurse Jackie, which is where I first heard it.) Here we go with Step 6 already! Summer is just flying by! The busier we get, the faster summer goes! Craig and I had a super busy week with both work and fun all the way into the weekend. The week before we had looked closely at our calendars and tried to cut out something, but there wasn’t anything we could not do. Miraculously, we fit it all in somehow and had a

Yes, naked! Step 5 makes me feel like I'm about to totally expose myself. Sometimes revealing what's on the inside is harder than stripping down naked in front of an audience. To be clear, I am not sure about that fact, it's just what I think. First a little weekend recap. Last weekend was a really good one over here at the Hoppen’s. We goofed off all weekend! Didn't accomplish a darn thing and we were totally ok with that. We still have a summer project list a mile long, but