goodbye 2009: part 2 of 2

we stayed in pittsburgh for two nights at steve's friend chris's place. the second day we explored a cemetary...i know...it seems like a weird thing to do, but it was the craziest looking cemetary i had even seen. how could i not check it out? it was obviously for people who had a lot of money, check out their graves...

 

the next day steve and i went and had breakfast with chris at the quiet storm. after that, we left pittsburgh and headed off to washington, d.c. to get joe! joe had biked all the way from michigan to washington, d.c. in the course of a month. once we arrived in washington, we went to sticky fingers and got some lunch and perhaps a couple of desserts...

after sticky fingers we met up with joe! he was very tan. it was strange to see him since we hadn't in a long time! after the little reunion we drove to jessup, md, for the night. the next morning we were off to philladelphia!  once in philladelphia we went to maoz vegetarian where we had falafel sanwiches!

 

 we visited love park for a while and enjoyed the fountain they had there.

after our exploring, we were hungry, so we went to the black olive. the people there were really kind to us. it really is a great place, so if you are ever in philly and looking for a place to eat...this is the place to go!

then a few days later we went to providence, ri to visit brown university because steve is thinking about going there for a mfa in poetry. we also had the most amazing vegan pizza downtown at a place called nice slice. after we were done in providence we drove to newport and walked the "cliff walk;" it was so beautiful and peaceful there.

 

"don't think / see truth / relax"...finding this while walking along the cliff walk was inspiring! it really made me feel good after reading it. it seems to summarize how i've come to feel about life.

 

after rhode island we went back to our campground and slept. the next morning we drove all the way back home to michigan! steve was amazing! he drove from our campground in conneticut to new york, new york to new jersey, then 300+ miles across pennsylvania, and up through part of ohio in one day! then the rest of the ohio and michigan driving was taken care of by joe and i.

once the roadtrip was over, it was back to work for me! i had lots of requests for senior portraits. this fall was really good for me in that part of my life because this year i really got things going with my photography business.

relationships with a couple of friends got a lot better, as we hung out more together and got to know each other more. i am really happy that this happened.  

i went to doozie's for vegan dole whips a lot in september with friends. sometimes it was steve, sometimes it was alyssa, and sometimes it was doug! we couldn't stay away! they changed the flavor each week and i found each one amazingly good tasting!

in october i took my sister to ferris state university in big rapids, mi for a tour of the college. she wants to study dental hygiene there.

later in the month we had alyssa's annual halloween/birthday party! this year she turned 18! it was great to see everyone there together having fun!

in november we celebrated steve's 22nd birthday! he got a trumpet from doug and alyssa, and we had cone cakes!

 

the fall had many ups and downs, but altogether it was a pretty great time!

in december alyssa set up a suprise 80s themed birthday party for paul; it was his 22nd birthday! it was a lot of fun, too. i crimped my hair for the party! i hadn't done that since i was like in the 5th grade, so it was exciting!

a week after the suprise party, alyssa held a holiday party! there was great food, desserts, a gift exchange, and just fun times! the three photos below were taken by lisa...

the day after the holiday party i went to detroit to see the detroit symphony orchestra perform a piece titled "the planets," it was an amazing time! the music was wonderful!

i truly loved many things about this year. i feel like i really grew into who i am. i hope everyone else enjoyed their 2009 year as much as i did and are ready for new adventures in 2010!