L'aventure américaine

Sterling and I traveled to Michigan this weekend to let them borrow some of our sunshine and check out the University of Michigan School of Public Health in Ann Arbor. It was a wonderful, fun-packed weekend of family and tourism! We started in Ann Arbor and visited Ron, Belita and Sarina's beautiful home. I also went to the admitted student day at the school, but decided with Sterling, that Baltimore might be a better fit for me. I loved Johns Hopkins and we really loved the school, so we decided officially to head east in July! I will be starting at the Bloomberg School of Public Health on July 2nd. But, on with the trip... We had an amazing Sabbath dinner, great conversation, and even an impromptu talent show in Ann Arbor with the Jochim-Cowan clan before heading to Detroit the next day. Sterling took me to see some of his favorite parts of Detroit like Belle Isle and check out some fantastic buildings that could be the potential next renovation project. We then met Mark...

Sterling and I made a pact not to complain about being busy because it was certainly all self-imposed. But, as we whirlwind our way through 2012, it's hard not to get a little tired from time to time. However, we have to make sure to appreciate all of the fun things that we're doing lately. For starters... January: We headed to Flagstaff to celebrate Sterling's birthday in a great little hotel and stumbled upon a fantastic, tiny church. We had originally gone to replant our live Christmas tree, but decided it was too cold for the little fella and that his home would be Phoenix. We later found a perfect spot (see picture below). At the end of the month, my friend Jon came for a visit and we galavanted around Phoenix together. The buy of the month, however, was Sterling's Coronado home up the street (see Christmas tree photo). A real beautiful thing with great potential. Secondary buy of the month? 6 chickens (who now live with the tree and the house). February: ...