Think Happy Thoughts

I had a rough little day of self-esteem. I won't go in too deeply, but let's just say a bad dressing room session and horrendous skin situation (it's bad, people) combined forces to shake my pride pretty badly today. I've decided to not feel guilty when I whine write about these stupid feelings because they are, although stupid, 100% real. I am trying to live well in spite them instead of ignore them. Maybe I'll let you know more about that soon (hint: it has a lot to do with a book I've freshly finished called Daring Greatly). Anyway, one of my solutions to a big self-confidence setback is bouncing that energy off of my main man, who tends to reflect back to me a healthy vision of my worth. Brian is good at helping me through a bad day, as long as I am willing to let him help me through it. Funny how, if you make up your mind to be, you can stay miserable as long as you'd like. Today, though, I decided to let him help me through it. We talked to each other over (I must say, delicious) dinner (high-five Anna, you domestic goddess, you) and he listened to my fears and problems without making me feel like a crazy person. Isn't that all you could ask for to sort through a bad day? A real conversation and a "no-I-don't-think-you're-nuts-and-in-fact-I-love-you" attitude? I appreciate him so much for that.

Another solution I have to bad days is remembering the really good ones. This weekend was a string of some really good ones. I'll share them with you in case you need to borrow some good day vibes, free of charge.

Saturday was a whirlwind of a day, as Karley and I had the privilege to be our cousin Becky's personal attendant. Now, sometimes the job of personal attendant gets a bad rap, but in our case, it was a long but fabulous day. It was basically an excuse to hang out with Becky, one of my favorite humans on the planet, and share in her joy as she married the man of her dreams. Kaleb really is the exact guy I would have cooked up for Becky, and I'm so glad they found each other. My day was spent following the photographer's second shooter (I may or may not have dubbed myself the "third shooter") and saying things like, "Okay so what shot are we looking for her'e? and "Are we trying to get the groomsmen getting ready in the horrible lighting?" I kept saying "we" in hopes that I could pretend that I was getting into wedding photography. Or just photography in general. I suggested one angle for a picture of theirs and immediately felt like I should start charging people thousands of dollars for my services. See, this is why I can't be an artist. The ego would just consume me.

Needless to say it was a day of dancing and happiness and peacocks. Yes, there were peacocks. The best part? Seeing my family, this ever-growing, ever-changing organism, come together and support one another, as they always do. I love being a part of a family that is so unconditionally supportive. As a member of it, you know that you have a crew of people standing witness to your growth, your promises, and your imperfections, loving you through all of them. It's a freeing and empowering thing, to be a part of such a family.

Sunday was also just bliss. We slept in and totally skipped church. (Sssshhhh, don't tell. Well, I mean, I don't actually care. TELL IF YOU MUST. #SORRYNOTSORRY) I love our church and love our Sunday routine. Our church is actually one of my favorite places on earth. This weekend, though, was time for us to pump the breaks. My brother Rudi used to tell me that Christians absolutely love skipping church, because it makes you feel like you're getting away with something. Kinda true! But you know what? I think God understood. I talked with God all about it and it's good between us. Brian and I got a full night of sleep for the first time in absolutely forever and we woke up with ridiculous happy faces at the decadent 9:45 in the morning. Pure bliss I tell you.

The day just got better from there. We went on one of our food adventures for brunch up north. We trekked up in the direction of his parents' house and stopped at Once Upon a Bagel in Highland Park. Even though we were on the north side of Chicago, it felt very Philadelphia in there. I was loving the culture. Brian loves these kinds of places too. What can I say? We bond over food! #truelove

We went from there to procrastinate get a few things done at Hansa Coffee Shop in Libertyville, the town where Brian's from in this area. This was a complete favor to me, because Brian knows I love this place. I want to go every time we visit up there, and this time my wish was granted. It's in a refurbished garage with a great atmosphere. I sipped black tea out of a mug the size of my face while making up backstories in my head as I people-watched and it was awesome.

We finished the night at the Whartnaby establishment in Libertyville, where SuperBeth was hosting a party for all of Ed's 20 salesmen who were in town for a business thing. The place was packed with personality and funny comments and I loved it. It made me feel super proud of my father-in-law, super proud of my mother-in-law, and super proud to be considered part of their clan that they want their employees to meet. We left, of course, with leftovers in tow for Monday night's dinner and headed back to la casa de Ovaltine. It was the end of a string of two very, very good days. Ahhhh. Happy thoughts = happy Anna.

GReat friends and GReat weddings.

The title is a play on the fact that I spent last weekend in GR, Grand Rapids, and the fact that I was reminded, yet again, how blessed I have been in this life of mine with wonderful people whom I have the honor to call friends.

Ann Marie is a girl that goes back to 2004 in the life of Anna Gesch. She was the cool one who, halfway through freshman year, decided to start inviting me to the cool kid hangouts, in my Kohls brand jeans and all. She's the girl who spent so many weekends laughing and sticking together through the weird years of being the age of 15, 16, 17, and 18. She's the girl who wanted to meet my college friends and introduce me to hers. She's the one who understood my obsession with History and Literature and Poems and taking really good-looking notes in high school. She's the friend who made being a nerd okay, dare I say it, even cool, and helping me to be a smart girl who was unashamed of her intelligence.  Ann Marie is the girl who can sympathize with my love of G2 pens more than maybe any other human on this earth. That seems like a weird thing to make just a friend into a great friend, but it makes complete sense to me.

She met Justin sophomore year in college and the rest is history. He is sweet, smart, understanding, and perfect for Ann. Their wedding was on a quiet, beautiful, and snowy Saturday at a music hall in Grand Rapids. I got to reconnect with the high school crew and introduce them to Brian as we celebrated one of my favorite girls. Isn't it funny how when you see the people you love in such a state of bliss, you also somehow just can't help the happiness from pouring down?

   

Happy Half-Year-Aversary!

On this date, six months ago, Karley Mae VanDyke became Karley Mae Staal in a swift "I Do" and a kiss. Call me sentimental, but I was super bummed out when it was all over. It was one of the happiest days of my life, and no I'm not ashamed to say that I was probably a little too excited for this wedding to happen. It was a magical day. And I think it's an accomplishment to have made it 6 months in the whole marriage world, because although I've never been there, it seems like a challenge to say the least. I got nostalgic and was scrolling through some pictures to remember how great it was.

 Here are a few pics to reminisce on the beautiful 25th of May this year. Congrats, Karley and Sam! Love you both!

 

Karley and Sam are Married.

I'm going to write about it in more detail soon, believe me. But for now, with today off from school, I'm taking the afternoon to catch up on laundry, groceries, cleaning, lesson plans, and, of course, ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT (can I get a witness?!). It's a nice buffer before my last kick of the school year.

Saturday. Was. Perfect.

That's really the best way to say it. Pure magic from beginning to end. I love you Karley Mae!

April Showers

Tulips. 

Friends. It's finally here: Karleypalooza 2013. We've hit wedding season at full speed and we are not looking back. This weekend of bridal showers marked the commencement of the march to May 25 and the goodness that will be Karley's wedding. Oh, I suppose it's Sam's wedding too. That too. But I am beyond excited for the chaos to begin and the buildup to start. The aunts on the VanDrunen side put together an absolutely great shower for Karley, complete with table themes, cupcake displays, Dutch details in the decorations, great food, and fifty attendees. It was held in the basement (I use the word basement  lightly because it is far from dingy and dirty like the word imples) at my grandma's church which has a great facility. Karley and Sam got tons of cool presents and I'd say a good 43% of the gifts were cupcake-themed. Once they're married I plan on getting a sugar high with every visit. 

Stay tuned for future festivities, including the bachelorette weekend in May. It's going down. 

Sam came to experience the gift opening.

The amazing dessert table. 

Karley and all the aunts who threw the shower for her. 

Oh my family. 

SHARYN

April, myself, and Lizard. Always surrounded by blondies. 

Can NOT believe I haven't put up any picture of my beloved Karyn Koopmans' wedding that occurred at the beginning of this month. I love this girl with all my heart and am so happy that she is blissfully living in holy matrimony right now. She married a great guy named Shane Navratil, so I guess that would make her Karyn Navratil now. RIP Koops. You were a great nickname for so long. I think my dad won't ever stop calling her Koops. Also, in the tradition of BENNIFER and BRANISTON and BRANGELINA, their celebrity nickname would be SHARYN. Baller. 

Cousins :) 

While a lot of people roll their eyes or look at me in shock and awe when I say I had 12 weddings from April to November this year, I actually didn't mind it. I love weddings. I love love. So while, yes, it was pretty dang expensive to attend all these special days, it was also really special to be there for the biggest day of my friends' lives together. This is the third time this wedding season I've been asked to be a bridesmaid, and this one really felt special. Karyn and I have almost completely opposite personalities naturally (just ask her what she thought of me on first impression freshman year...oops), but her friendship is one that I value so much. She is real, speaks the truth, and isn't afraid to cut through the nonsense that can build up in a world where nobody wants to offend one another or have real opinions. She is also intelligent, reserved, caring, low-key, and thoughtful. There are so many things about her that I wish I had more of in myself. Isn't that funny? How you can bond with people exactly like you and almost nothing like you just the same? I think it's important to have friends of both persuasions.

Trinity crew!

Now I've rambled about Karyn because I know her so well, but I must also point out the catch that she married. Shane is an awesome, principled, chill guy. Perfect for Karyn. They just click together. And they're handling this adulthood transition better than almost anyone I know. Heck, they probably have like a 401k started or something. That mature. Shane, I have three pieces of advice for you in order to have a life of happiness with Karyn: 1) Root for the Cleveland Browns 2) Memorize While You Were Sleeping line by line and 3) Keep the main thing (your faith) the main thing in your life. That's Karyn in a nutshell. 

freshly married

Mel and me

Thomas was nice enough to go with me as my date to this shindig.
Doesn't he look thrilled? 

Wedding Weekend Extravaganza

Remember how 20 days ago my brother married that beautiful girl in Washington D.C.? I surprisingly don't really have any pictures of the bride and groom on their special day, but I have lots of other pictures from that weekend of family fun and togetherness. I'll have to wait to see the professional photographer's pics for the happy couple in all of their newlywed glory. It was an absolutely beautiful day, happy and carefree in just about every way possible. I've been blessed to be a part of weddings of brides that are so low-key. I've heard horror stories of bridezillas, but every single time I've been a bridesmaid the experience has been purely laid back, fun, and just plain happy thanks to the bride-to-be. Heidi is no different.

This girl is an amazing person. To be honest, I'm not even sure I'm at liberty to tell you about her professional resume (not even kidding on this one), but let's just say she's kind of a big deal. She has lived in and traveled all over the world, proven herself in both the work force and extremely renowned academic institutions (Oxford and Yale anyone?), and yet is one of the most unassuming, humble people I've ever met. If anyone has license to be a little pretentious, it's her. She's earned it. Yet she chooses instead to be sweet, kind, thoughtful, and down to earth because that's who she is. Can you tell I like to brag about her? I do. Alex is very lucky to have found such a great match and I am so lucky to have a sister like her. Both of my brothers married girls I absolutely love. How many people can say that? That they love their siblings-in-law as much as their siblings? Again, I'm a lucky girl. But I suppose that wouldn't make me lucky. That would make me blessed. 

Here's some random pictures I snapped throughout the weekend on the East Coast.

Out with everyone the night before the wedding. We planned these outfits, obviously. 

Xan man and myself. Look at that stud. 

Dopplegangers.

Bachelorette party

Cousins on the wedding day

Sisters!

Had to add this one. We had a lot of togetherness in the rental van.
Maybe too much togetherness, if that's possible. 

Roadie

Emily and me, after being stateside again for about a year :) 

This weekend was a crazy whirlwind. I went out downtown Chicago with the Milwaukee corps people (they will be teaching in the fall in Milwaukee, but are in Chicago for the summer school Institute teaching) on Friday night (supes fun), then drove up to Sheboygan County on Saturday for a meetup with friends and for Nina's bachelorette party later that evening. Before that I got lunch with my good friends Ryan and Nicole to hear about their crazy and awesome adventures in their first year of teaching. They both moved to Pittsburgh last summer and have successfully completed a whole year of teaching middle school (Ryan) and second grade (Nicole). They definitely have lots of wisdom to impart to a new teacher living in a new city! I ate my weight in chips and salsa during this lunch and loved every minute of catching up. Then I went to Sheboygan for Kristina's bachelorette party before her wedding in two weeks. I've known Kristina since we were 4 and 5 (we've actually been at the same school from Preschool until college graduation!) and bonded over having really big boxes of crayons that everyone wanted to borrow from Remember when popularity hinged on how big your box of crayons was? Mmmm. The good old days. 

On the way back on Sunday I got a HUGE treat. I got to meet up with a great friend from my time in SPAIN! Miss Emily Rottman happened to be in Milwaukee the same day that I was driving back to Chicago. We met up at Bayshore, my favorite mall, and caught up for an hour over frozen yogurt. There were lots of exciting details, laughter, and reminiscing. Spain people just speak to my heart. She is, obviously, being her amazing beautiful self in Santa Barbara and conquering the world with her new cool job. I'm starting to think another trip to California is in order...

This is what a group of TFA-ers looks like when you tell them
that instead of leaving at 6:30 in the morning, their bus will
from now on be leaving at 7:00 in the morning. A half hour
makes a WORLD of difference, people. Still smiling about this.  

On the road again. Wisconsin highways look
so different from crowded Chicago expressways. 

The DELISH blackberry jello shots that Nina's sister made for
her bachelorette party. They were so good. The top layer is
somehow incorporating sweetened condensed milk, so
obviously I was in full support of this appetizer. 

Kristina opening some of her goodies :) So great to
be able to be there for her in the days before her wedding! 

Shower Power

I just returned from a stellar Chicago Fire game in which we dominated the New York Red Bulls 3-1! (TOTALLY should've been 4-1, but they took away what should have been a goal on a bogus line judge's call. But that's neither here nor there.) I went with my TTL (Transition Team Leader; basically, a glorified buddy who is a year into TFA and helps you along with transitioning into this craziness) and two other teachers from her school. They were an absolute riot and were completely generous with accepting me and being their hilarious selves and made me feel cool and all that stuff. Yesterday was a busy day for the Van Drunen (my mother's) side of the family, as we had a golf outing (I don't golf; I babysit) all day and then finished out with a wedding shower for two of the grandkids who are getting married (my brother Alex is one of them). We had a REAL LIVE WORKING Family Feud setup with buzzers and a screen and survey answers and everything as a game for everyone to play. The Gesch family is a little too competitive so we had a pretty great time with it. It was a whirlwind of a day, but a much needed little break from the world of Teach For America. Tomorrow morning I head off at 7:00 on a bus for my school, where I'll be teaching 6th grade summer school starting next Monday. Say whaat?!

Peeps, it's about to get REAL. 

The crowds admiring the present opening

My mom and Xander 

Soyjoy and (a very sweaty) me

Me, Karley, and Liz

The Gesches getting psyched for Family Feud

My grandparents: the people who get credit for starting this crazy family

Heidi and Alex admiring their new gifts

Yellow Fever

This weekend was a whirlwind of hilarity, hickness, and happiness.

Check out those bridesmaids - I call it "Belle Yellow"

Kayla Amison (but now Kayla Gabrielse!), one of my lifelong friends, got married on Saturday. We assembled the girls from high school (and a few others :D) for bridesmaid fun as we got to support Kayla and Ben for their big day. We spent all day together getting our hair done at the salon, milling around at the church, taking pictures through Sheboygan, and hanging out together at the reception. It was a fabulous day. Always wonderful to get back in touch with my Wisconsin friends again. 

The bride and I

Let me tell you a little something about Kayla. This chick moved up to Wisconsin from Florida as a third-grader. She weighs as much as a Chihuahua and is a gorgeous person, inside and out. She is cold all the time (not too much fat for insulation, plus that Florida girl can't get used to the winters here), insanely conservative (she'll be the one waving those Republican posters on the street corners asking you to honk for Scott Walker), and a huge goofball (she enjoys watching cheesy scary movies on Netflix, no chick flicks for her). She has been making me laugh since grade school and I cannot believe she is old or mature enough to be married. But then again, I still imagine myself as a 12-year-old watching Rocket Power while sipping Chocolate Nesquik, so what do I know about maturity? 

She is also one of the most naturally cheerful people I've ever met. She just kind of bee-bops along, bouncing joyfully from one thing to the next. I mean, look at the dresses she picked out for us to wear. Yellow is a great color to describe Kayla. If there is an anti-bridezilla, she is it. No drama, just wanting to enjoy her day and have a great time with her family and friends. When I start to take everything too seriously, people like her remind me to not worry about it, do your best, and keep on swimming. (Nemo reference, just in case my niece Sawyer is reading. I want to relate to audiences of all ages.) Ben, her husband, is also a great friend of mine from home. And he's a great guy. It was really great to see them get hitched. I'm aware that I've used "great" three times in the last three sentences. I'm a great writer. With great range. And great diction. 

Classiness while we got ready. Ooooo fancy. 

Now I'm back at Trinity, ready to start another week, sans voice, of course. Weddings have a way of just making me super high on life, so I'm starting with a little more gumption than usual. Last three weeks of college, here we go!

Sister Sister

(Shout out to wonderful childhood television shows!)

Well. I've been HOLDING BACK on this one in SEVERE DIFFICULTY. 

There's something you should know about me. I love the social media. I've kind of been a Facebook freak since I first signed up during my junior year of high school. Pinterest ruled my life during finals week. I watch WAY too many videos on Youtube (this one happens to be my latest favorite). I'm still waiting on LinkedIn to magically find me employment after graduation. I joined Twitter a little over a year ago and nothing brings me joy quite like a long, well crafted hashtag.

#IfyoudontgetthatlaststatementIguessyoulljusthavetojointwittertoexperienceitonyourown.

Which also leads to the fact that I keep this thing that you're reading! Yes, a blog! So when something big happens, I immediately want to follow in the tradition of putting it out there to the world by means of thirty-seven different outlets! But I patiently waited for the green light to share this piece of exciting news:

My brother Alex is ENGAGED! To HEIDI! 

Which means I GET A NEW SISTER! 

Ahhhh. That felt good to proclaim. I had to chill out on the overshare to allow them to tell the good news themselves. I got the call last weekend at Taylor University (this is the down low on that weekend) in the middle of a Spanish cooking session. To describe the volume of my jubilation on hearing the news on a scale of pretty to very loud, I'd say it was VERY LOUD.

Aren't they cute?

Alex and Heidi met at Yale Law School (smarty pantses) and both will be working in D.C. this fall. I'd been bugging Alex in an appropriate little sister fashion to get a ring on that girl's finger for awhile now, but alas, he did things in perfect timing on his own, as he has done most of his life. I'm so excited for them and the future that is coming. And I'm also excited for myself because I've been a big fan of this Heidi character ever since she first started showing up in conversations around the house. It's not every day that you add a sibling to the fam!

There. I could finally say it. I feel so much better now.