Your Highness.

Blooms from Behind

In Full Bloom

Still Blustery

I really did mean what I said about winds of change....I am working on getting my life in order, but life got in the way a little bit...let me explain.

I started out with the Atkins and Wii Fit just like I had stated; things went perfectly well for the first couple weeks. At my first measurement I had lost 7lbs, 2 inches from my waist and 1 inch from my hips. Shortly there after, I went on a long weekend trip to the U.P. with Chris to meet his family and some of his friends....it is REALLY hard to stick to a diet and exercise plan on a vacation.... When I arrived back home, I was feeling pretty punky for the next week and finally went to the doctor...yup, I was sick..with a great big ol' sinus infection. Ugh. All excuses aside, I am restarting my plan with the same vigor as before and hopefully I won't be derailed as easily. Currently, I have lost 9lbs. I have started my workouts again and I have been eating like I should. I will keep you updated.

Along with life changes, I have also decided to make some blog changes. I have created a secondary blog for photos only....Belle's Photos at http://bellephoto7861.blogspot.com. I will continue to post on this blog, with a few of my favorite photos for each post. However, the rest of the photos, ('cause you know I like to take lots), will be posted to my other page. We'll see how it works, and if I don't like it, I will go back to the old way.

Now, for the more interesting stuff...more info about my trip up north with Chris. We left on Thursday and went directly to his parents' house. He had told me quite a bit about them, but I pictured them differently than he described. His mom was really funny and sarcastic and his dad was quiet and funny in a slightly corny way....in short, I really liked them, a lot. We stayed at the house that night and the next morning, made our way up to Houghton to visit Michigan Tech and check our their Winter Carnival.  We met up with some of his friends and took a scenic drive up to Copper Harbor. The lake was gorgeous; I couldn't believe how blue the ice looked! That night, we all went out to dinner and went our separate ways. Chris and I stayed in the area so we could wander around the campus and check out all the ice sculptures the next day. The sculptures were incredible...so much detail!

(http://bellephoto7861.blogspot.com/2010/02/winter-carnival.html for more photos)

We wandered around for a while and noticed that the Mineral Museum on campus was open, so we decided to stop in for while to check it out and to warm up. The room was quite large and had so much to look at!

After the museum, we headed back out to the car and decided to go to the frozen waterfall in Munising. It was a bit out the way , but worth it. We hiked back into the woods a bit and took some pictures in front of the falls.

Nobody was around, so we hiked a little further and were able to make our way under the frozen falls. It was gorgeous. The outer water was completely frozen, but inside the ice, you could see, and faintly hear, running water.

(http://bellephoto7861.blogspot.com/2010/02/munising-falls.html for more photos)

After the falls, we went to dinner and headed back to his house. The next day, we went to breakfast with his mom and then came back to pack and make our way home. I couldn't believe how much we were able to see in just a few short days!

Rainy Monday

Beaded Blades

Beaded Berries

Queens: Past and Present

Hidden Home

On Saturday, Greg and I went for a walk on some of the university property down the road from my apartment. The land is gorgeous; it's a mixed plot of swamp, field, woods and a lot of it is bordered by the river. We walked out to the far edge of the property...right up to the river. The land builds up and creates a little cliff that overlooks the water. While we were admiring the view, we happened to notice a large pile of sticks and leaves piled on the very edge of the cliff. Looking closer, we realized they were covering some sort of shelter in the wall of the cliff. We wanted to get a closer look, so we climbed down the cliff wall toward the river's edge. At the bottom of the cliff, we found exactly what we thought it was, a shelter of some sort...long abandoned.

The plastic was obviously part of the ceiling at one point, but has since come unfastened. Inside the shelter, we were able to see shovel marks where the walls were carved out.

The walls themselves were a mix of hard clay and silt. It was a decent size...Greg and I could both stand comfortably. Inside, there was also a fire pit that had been dug and wire grate that I imagine was used for cooking.

The whole shelter looked very well built and I bet it was a very nice place to stay during the warm summer nights. We figure someone was using the shelter for a project, something for a class at the university perhaps....or maybe someone just wanted to get a little closer to nature. With the view from their shelter, can't really say I blame them...

From the Other Side of the Tracks

Buds and Blooms