one whole year

A year ago today a very special event occurred in the life of the Kooistra family (and specifically in the life of Keith):

We acquired a Marisa.

It has been fun to watch their relationship develop further in this first year of being husband and wife. (And, selfishly, it has been fun to have a sister.) They are perfect for each other: both a little bit feisty, a medium bit stubborn, and a whole bit big hearted.

They make a lovely pair.

We love you Marisa, and are grateful for your place in our family. Thank you for dealing with us, loving us, and loving our Keith.

Congratulations ~ We wish you many blessings in year 2!

Birthday Happiness Part IV

Harrisburg is my home away from home away from home

(are you confused? Welcome to my world....)

so it was only fitting to have a bit of celebration there as well.

I drove in Saturday for a rehearsal and then Jody and Julie took me to dinner at the Macaroni Grill. We laughed a lot, particularly when a happy twist of fate (and a really nice waiter) landed me with two desserts. I indulged. (Happily.)

Sunday brought a spot of tea, which no birthday celebration would be complete without.

My friend Marina (on the left) and I share a birthday, so we invited our circle of friends to Jody's for a small celebration. It turns out that my poor planning skills (how come I can never seem to plan more than a week in advance?) meant that most people were out of town so it turned into a small gathering (the kind that suggests "spot of tea"....).

Jody was a gracious hostess, Liz and I finally took a picture together that made both of us look half-way normal, Kate enjoyed her first tea party with a gazillion smiles (the kind that only a baby can make), and Marina and I were happy to be aging another year.

Good friends, good times!

Birthday Happiness Part III

Boston is a lovely city. It is even lovelier when you are with your siblings, and when they are spoiling you because it happens to be your birthday (and because you happen to freakishly love your birthday).

Here are a few highlights:

Friday night we arrived and played the recently begun Kooistra tradition of Rummy Royal. We also continued the tradition begun years ago at some steak house called "Make fun of Lauren when she's had a bit too much to drink". (It's only because it doesn't take much, I say in self-defense...)

Saturday began with early morning coffee and conversation. Kara made us pancakes once Keith finally emerged from bed (my, how that boy can sleep). We lolled around until it was time for...

...presents! My second gift (of many) for the weekend was my first scarf (of many) for the weekend.

(I do love a pretty scarf or two--or three...)


Then we went shopping! Since this is Keith's favorite weekend activity...oops, I mean, since Keith was such a good sport, he and his friend Jon took advantage of the atmosphere in Crate & Barrel to do a little catching up.



Then it was time for dinner where my friends Gene & Kathy met us. We had yummy food, and then the waitress brought me this flaming coffee sundae. I don't know how she knew that coffee ice cream is my favorite (and really the only kind of ice cream I particularly enjoy), or that the chocolate cookie on top was the kind my mother bought when I was a kid for some special dessert she made when she went to other people's houses. I was never allowed to eat them unless she had one left over--so they are on my list of "special treats".


Then we marched through the cold July twilight to the Hatch Shell to partake in the free Temptations concert occurring there. My two favorite parts of this event were 1) that Karen, my old roommate from when I lived in Princeton who now lives in Boston (an ironic twist, since I lived in Boston before I moved to Princeton....), met us there and 2) Dave and Kara dancing like weirdos. (They are made for each other, these two...)




We left a bit before the concert was over to beat the crowd to The Sevens, a quaint neighborhood bar where we finished out the evening with good conversation, baseball, and Guinness. (Yes, I was in such high spirits that I didn't voice my suspicion that the boys were only in this adventure for the flat screen tv above the bar...)




(I'm not sure I've ever had Guinness before. Growing up, I tell you...)

That was it for Saturday. I officially headed into my birthday on the train home, but I already felt as if I'd celebrated sufficiently. Nonetheless, the next day we had birthday cheesecake for breakfast, and then picked up some lunch at a deli around the corner from Kara's place. We took it to a park nearby and played bocce ball for an extended period of time. During this tournament, I realized how fun it is to say "Kara-Qualley-Kooistra" and decided I would call dear Kara this for the rest of her sweet life.

That was until she beat us all: I now call her "Killer-Qualley-Kooistra".

If you want to see us playing nice, check this out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oDVccrQFeO4

When it was time to head toward the car to leave for home, we all pouted.

But, we rallied, and had 15 extra minutes to chat on the stoop of Dave's next door neighbor.

I reveled in the beauty of having such lovely sisters, and do not know how I got so lucky. (Those boys have good taste, which I suppose is not surprising, seeing as they had such a fine example of quality womanhood [I'm talking about me] before them their entire lives... :-] )

I also don't know how I got so lucky to have such great brothers.

(This picture is my favorite from the weekend. It captures Davy at his finest (ie., nuts) and Keith with his most genuine smile (all heart that guy...like a big teddy bear)...I can almost hear him laughing to match it...)

An excellent way to spend a birthday I'd say!

Birthday Happiness Part II

On Thursday morning I drove to NJ for dinner with my parents and grandmother. It was difficult to know that my grandfather would not be with us, but there is something heart-warming even in grief when it is shared. We had a wonderful, precious time of talking and being together. My mother made blueberry peach cobbler, which goes to show that I am growing up since I did not wrinkle up my nose in distaste at the prospect of cooked fruit. This evidence is necessary, because if you were to go off of the candles, you perhaps might think otherwise...

Friday my mother and I had some girl time: A pedicure for my wretched feet and a manicure for her. Then I got a taylor ham egg and cheese on an everything bagel at my favorite bagel store (which is one of the few things that keep me coming back to NJ), and headed to the Montclair Art Museum to see a Whistler exhibit my mother had discovered. This was appropriate, since Whistler has the honor of sharing my birthday. Other than the tour guide who caused me to want to stick my little plastic "paid" tag through my eyeball (I'll spare you the details) it was a cool thing to do.

Our time was short however, because I needed to get over to Keith and Marisa's so that we could head to Boston for our weekend of sibling togetherness...

Birthday Happiness Part I

My birthday celebrations started with a bang on the Wednesday before, when I was spoiled by my department friends with dinner at the American Ale House.

They gave me fun and thoughtful gifts and we spent the evening laughing over an "assignment" our philosophy professor had given us for our celebrating.

(We are nerds, but we have learned to laugh, so it can't be all bad....)

We had a delightful (if slightly rowdy) time.

I got home and began preparing for my weekend get-away when--suddenly--I heard a ruckus at my door. Another group of friends had arrived to surprise me, and surprise me they did. We crowded into my little apartment and had a spontaneous celebration.

All in all, an evening that will go down in my books as one where I felt beyond special.

Thank you friends!

I do like a good holiday...

This one began with breakfast at the Waffle Shop up the street with Pam and Del (whom I typically refer to lovingly as "my landpeople"), followed by a loooong walk with them and their dog Dixie through the trails behind the house that I didn't even know existed. It was an invigorating way to begin a holiday, and good to spend time with them. I then came home and cleaned my apartment in preparation for the cookout I was hosting that evening.

Around 5.30 the guests began to arrive, bringing with them an assortment of delicious foods. Tracy took post at the grill, others sliced watermelon in my kitchen, and I wandered around from deck to apartment being practically useless. (Here's a tip: Invite competent people to your cookouts if you tend to get overwhelmed by large groups....)

Pam ogled over the baby in our midst,
and that baby didn't even blink an eye when Isaac shot off his potato gun (I, on the other hand, let out a small to mediumish "yelp", even though I was expecting it....)

After we'd gotten our fill of grilled meat, we split up to head toward the fireworks near the stadium. Some people drove. Some people did not like the thought of sitting in miles of traffic afterward, and so took off through the trails I'd learned about that morning. I joined this second group, and we walked through the beauteousness of nature, laughing and talking and getting to know each other better.

We arrived and found good seats on the lawn next to the baseball stadium. We waited in anticipation because we had been told that State College's 4th of July fireworks are the 3rd best in the country. We wanted to judge for ourselves.

We judged this to be accurate: I've never encountered fireworks quite like them. They were pretty incredible. I didn't know that fireworks could be expressive. Maybe I've been watching too much So You Think You Can Dance, but when the music was elegant, the fireworks appeared to be stretching their elegant arms the length of the phrase. When the music was boisterous, the explosions brought boisterousness to life. I sat there with a smile on my face for much of it. (I couldn't help it, they were just that enjoyable...)

When they were finished I looked to the field

below the hill where we were sitting, and realized that I was extraordinarily grateful that we had not decided to drive, because the clump of brake lights was nearly more impressive than the fireworks themselves.

As we walked back through the carnivalish atmosphere that had been set up in the parking lot around the football stadium, we were sucked in by the aroma of frying dough

(aka Funnel Cake).

Our fried goodness fortified us as we made the trek back home through the now dark and somewhat creepy nature we had reveled in before, guided by the light of the moon.

I returned to find that Pam and Del had finished cleaning up, and that all I had to do was go to bed. I was more than ready for it after such a long and good day. As I said--I do like a good holiday.