The Open House

Well, the Open House for my brother is over, and the graduation process is complete. It felt sort of like Christmas afterwards--so much buildup and prep work, and then it's over so fast. The party was on Saturday and it was great fun, and we were all happy to relax a bit at the end of the day. I took a bunch of pics, and some of Chris's facial expressions while opening his gifts are a riot, so I recommend checking them out. Btw, does anyone not know how to get to my photogallery? I would think it was obvious but... you know what they say about assumptions. >_<

We were very lucky and had awesome weather the whole day, so our guests could enjoy the back yard. One unfortunate event however was the realization (or was it a reminder?) that our neighbors are complete assholes. Now, for those of you that might not know my immediate family, we're friendly, non-rowdy, rule-following folk. In other words, living next to us must be really easy, if you know we're even there at all. But we happen to be the youngest people on our street, and the only family with children. Consequently, our neighbors have it in for us for reasons logic cannot explain.

Our lovely neighbor to the left has a small gravel driveway on her lawn, separate from the main driveway, which she has never used in all the years I've lived in this house. On the day of the open house, she taped large signs reading "NO PARKING" to trash cans and put them in that driveway, so that no one would be tempted to park there. Even though my family wouldn't dream of using it without her permission. Also, our other lovely neighbor across the street, who hasn't spoken a word to my parents since my sister became a teenager, parked his truck at the end of his driveway at an angle, so that no other car could even turn around in his driveway. I still feel baffled over what harm it could've done. Baffled, I say. What a collection of senile old coots.

Aside from that, the party went off without a hitch and Chris enjoyed opening up gifts after it was over with the family. Mike and I pitched in together to get him all his school supplies, a 100 piece tool set, some dishes, and a trashcan for school. He also got a travel bag and towels from Kristen, a GVSU t-shirt from Mike's parents, some more towels from a friend, and a whole bunch of money.

I was pretty wiped out that night, and went to bed early. Sunday was Father's Day so I spent the first half of the day at home, and then went on a dinner date with Mike to celebrate him being done with school. Yesterday I finally got to see my friend Beth for the first time since she got married, and it felt so weird yet good to listen to her talk about Matt like a husband. She gave me a box of wedding stuff for when I get married someday, and it was fun to look through it all with her. :)

Things have been alright otherwise, with work and whatnot. I'm having a hard time saving money, because there have just been so many things to spend money on lately, from car insurance to open house gifts to gas. Hopefully this week's paycheck won't fly out the window like the rest.

*exhausted sleep*