Snapshot of a Year Well Lived: 2012

January always gives me a moment to pause and reflect on the past year. It has had some high points and some tearful moments. But, along the way I've had a hand to hold...in fact, I often had two hands to hold. Lucky me! Here's a snapshot of what we lived and loved over 2012...

January

We are lucky to live close enough to Blandford Nature Center to walk to the back side of the trails. We didn't get much snow in 2012, but it made it so easy to traipse through the woods all winter.

Working the floor during a basketball game in the West Catholic High School kids league. 

February

Connor was sneaky at his school auction and put is raffle tickets into the bucket to win a cellular phone with minutes (even though mom and dad said not to!). After a heartfelt conversation, and a little nudging from his parents, he agreed that it made sense to donate this cool phone to a woman who was trying to find a job and take good care of her family. Here he is with Sharon Caldwell-Newton, Executive Director of Women's Resource Center, making his donation. We are so proud of the tough decision he made to help someone else!

Here we are on our first trip to Brewery Vivant -- Connor's rootbeer looks like a stout! Who wouldn't want to live in Brew City USA?! We love it!

March

Connor had a blast riding Aunt Lara Parks' horse, Dreamer, for the first time. He was a natural...mom was watching in awe. He even helped Laura brush out Dreamer and give her a few treats. Who could imagine we'd have such gorgeous March weather...no coats!

April

We had a gorgeous place to hang out for Spring Break...right in Michigan! Connor and his cousins, Sarah, Rachel, and Reagan, loved the beach in Frankfort and we all soaked up the sun while exploring Sleeping Bear Dunes.

Spring Break was capped off with a visit from Cousin Ryleigh and a trip to Frederik Meijer Gardens to see the butterflies exhibit and run around in the Children's Garden. Fun!

May

Connor and his buddies from school just before they made their First Holy Communion. Big rite of passage for a Catholic. It makes my heart smile to see how reverently they all participated in this Sacrament...and how handsome they were in their best Sunday clothes. Love it!

Connor and his cousin Reagan were on the same Coach Pitch Little League Baseball Team this year...with Rick as the coach. Great season, they all improved their skills and showed a lot of commitment and spunk!

And, May brought the official Memorial Day kickoff to summer! This year we were lucky enough to rent a cottage for the whole summer next door to our brother's cottage. We didn't swim on Memorial Day, but we stuck our toes in the water!

June

Celebrating the end of another school year, Connor and one of his buddies are tossing the football into Lake Michigan. What a great way to kick off summer at the beach!

June was jam packed for us! In the middle of baseball, school ending, beach time, the Ladies Tee Party Charity Golf Outing, and the usual stuff like work, we zipped out to Denver for the annual Fitzgerald Family Golf Outing. While there Connor and enjoyed a little trail hike with his cousin Jessica in the Boulder area.

...and while we were in Denver, my oldest brother John married his sweetheart, Carol!  What a fun backyard wedding, perfect for the two of them...we were all thrilled that we could attend!

Ah, heck, why not add another photo to June? Here is the whole Fitzgerald crew who journeyed to Denver for the annual golf outing! Yowza!

July

This photo sums up our July at Lake Michigan. Ahhhhh!

Although, this photo also helps tell the rest of the story! Our Tiki Bar at the cottage was a hit for adults and kids alike! Something there for everyone. We'll miss it a lot!

August

I loved seeing my business logo on the new jumbo screen at Fifth Third Ballpark, home of the West Michigan Whitecaps! This was during a women's business networking event that I organized at the ballpark. Cool!

It was the summer of the Mohawk for Connor. He loved it. But, alas, it's only a fleeting thing...once school starts it is back to the basics!

First day of 3rd Grade!

One last weekend at the beach before summer ends...what a journey!

September

First year of Rocket Football...oh my!

Best Birthday Ever! We celebrated Connor's 9th birthday with awesome seats to watch the Tigers...and helped them score a win! We had a blast in Detroit for the weekend.

October

Here's our very own Vampire Football Player from Vampire State! 

November

Connor and his Fitzgerald Cousins were in rare form to celebrate Great Aunt Kathie's 75th Birthday in Jackson. Wow!

Connor and Reagan were so proud to host their Fitzgerald Cousin, Kyle, and his two youngest children, at school for their Veteran's Day program. We are proud of all of our Active Duty and Veteran relatives (and everyone else who has served and continues to serve our country)!

December

We decided the best way to celebrate Connor's Mayan heritage was to throw a party on December 21, 2012 and celebrate the end of one Mayan Long Count Calendar and the beginning of a new phase. We had an awesome Mayan Pyramid cake and painted a few kid's faces to resemble Mayan Warriors or Princesses. Big fun. And, the world didn't end. You are welcome!

Goodbye 2012...Hello 2013! Can't wait to see what you have in store for us!

Farewell Newsweek

Today I received the final print issue of Newsweek magazine in the mail. It arrived in my mailbox on an odd day, wedged in between Christmas and New Year's Day. A Saturday. So far removed from the urgency that used to accompany it's arrival early in the week, ready to share intelligent thoughts about the current news of the world.

One last gasp and then it is gone forever.



Newsweek lost it's swagger. It's been a couple of years since I really cared what was written on it's pages. Yet I continued to renew my subscription. I hoped.

The magazine didn't suffer and die because pop culture prefers to receive their news digested and sputtered in small chunks via a mobile device. Personally, I lost interest in Newsweek when Tina Brown turned it into a collection of self-aware, sexified, introspective faux-journalism. Gone were the vivid photos of top news from across the country and the world. Gone were the collection of stories that took the time to make sense of the complicated web of business, politics, and social controversy. Gone were journalists who wrote with passion so that their audience could see the broader world.

Left were snarky stories about the avant-garde, riddled with insider drivel about topics that may have been scintillating to Tina and her minions in their Ivory Tower in NYC, but were little more than another day's recycling to me in Middle America where I dealt with a job and a family and a thirst for news. Somewhere along the line Newsweek forgot who their target audience was and began writing for themselves...after the real journalists left the room.

I fully understand the economics of printing a magazine and enticing advertisers to carve up part of their declining media spend for your publication. Perhaps Newsweek wouldn't have survived anyway. But, I find it obnoxious to blame the electronic transmission of news for the death of what has already become a shell of what it once was.

This particular issue actually captivated me and forced me to recall the days when I would stand in the kitchen and read it from cover to cover while cooking dinner after a long day at work. Life moves at warp speed for everyone today. And, I'm a huge fan of the digital age, I write a blog for goodness sake. But, that magazine always stopped me in my tracks. I tire of screen time. I feel overwhelmed by the Twitter chatter in the background all day. Historically, this publication served up the boldest and most important news in concert with bright, incisive editorials. It WAS different because it was old school.

Then it became the print version of The Daily Beast. Heaven Help Me!

I'm sorry to see it go. I'll miss the version of Newsweek before Tina turned it into her own Tattler/Vanity Fair with a smattering of carelessly inserted news hooks. The cover Twitter Hashtag should not be #LastPrintIssue it should be #EgoKilledNewsweek.

Farewell my friend. I've missed seeing you around the last few years and now I know that there really is no more reason to hope. Newsweek died.

There Goes Another One-One!

As we jump headfirst into a fresh, spanking new year, I thought it would be fun to look back at 2011. Every moment of every day was certainly not picture perfect, but gosh darn it -- we made the best of it all!

Enjoy the ride...there is nothing profound here, it won't change your life, but sometimes its fun to sneak a peak into someone else's world for a minute!

January -- Connor was lucky to be a part of a fantastic 1st grade class at Holy Spirit School. I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to photograph the class on several occasions and interview the students to write a book about how special and unique they all are. The book was auctioned off to help raise money for the school. It was seriously fun!

February -- Blizzards are incredible...when you are 7!

February -- And, sometimes blizzards result in gorgeous weather for the snow days that follow! Connor and our neighbor, Jenna, catch air while flying down the Doyle Family luge run in their backyard (across the street from our house). Now that's a thrilling way to spend your snow day!

March -- It was fun to cheer our nephew, Nate (12), and his Lumen Christi Titan hockey team on at the state quarter-finals game; but sad to watch him step off the ice for the last time as a Titan after their loss.

March -- We enjoyed watching Disney on Ice at the Van Andel Arena from a suite, front and center for all the action...complete with glow sticks!

March -- Brava to niece, Sarah, for her acting debut with Sparta Middle School!

April -- Spring Break in Longboat Key, FL...ahhhhhhh, nothing but sunshine, surf, and shells!

April -- My favorite photo of the year! The Gulf of Mexico was gorgeous for our Spring Break and we all enjoyed every second we spent basking in it. Connor loved riding the waves on his boogie board. Pure Joy!

April -- A late Easter this year provided gorgeous weather...we were all contemplating golf after brunch! Here is Connor with his cousins, Rachel, Sarah, and Reagan.

May -- Connor played Coach Pitch Little League this year with his dad as a coach. It was such fun to watch his skills develop...and so exciting to see a solid hit or catch.

May -- We cheered for nephew, Nate, as he graduated from Lumen Christi High School...my how time flies!

June -- We gathered in Grand Rapids for the Fitzgerald Family Golf Outing this year and celebrated my brother Mark's first victory as the Cup Winner! Apparently when he had surgery earlier in the year on his spine he scored some kind of bionic golf implant because he beat the competition with room to spare!

July -- Since we had those SWEET red, white, and blue tee shirts from the Family Golf Outing, why not wear them while celebrating Independence Day on the beach with fireworks and family?! Made sense to us! We were treated to a spectacular sunset over Lake Michigan, lovely fireworks over the water from the City of Pentwater, and an up-close, incredible firework display compliments of our neighbors on the beach! Not to mention our own sparklers! Whoopee!

July -- We kicked off our traditional summer vacation week (just the three youngest Fitzgerald's and our three kids, we've done this since the year they were all born!) at Memaw's house by tubing on Lake Pentwater. Connor and Reagan had a blast, and so did their cousin Ryleigh!

August -- Our neighbor's had to postpone their backyard wiffle ball tournament due to bad weather, but that didn't take away from the fun when game day arrived! Connor was once again the honorary bat boy for The Westwinde 5 -- and their team went on to win!

August -- A whirlwind trip to Chicago took us to Wrigley Field for Connor's first Cubs game! The monsoon-like downpour that drenched Connor and Mo also left us with a case of the giggles as we dashed through downtown streets that were flooded, while Rick waited it out at the restaurant!

August -- Connor and I even dragged Rick away from work for a few days at the beach splashing in those gorgeous Lake Michigan waves...and dinner with Memaw and Papa at the Pentwater Yacht Club. Excellent vacation that went by way too fast!

August -- We welcomed nephew, Kyle, home from his tour of duty in Afghanistan with the Army National Guard when his in-laws hosted a party at their farm in Reed City. Three of his Fitzgerald aunts are pictured here with Kyle...we embarrassed him with lots of smooches!

August -- Suddenly my sweet baby boy is a 2nd grader! Welcome back to school, buddy!

September -- We all cheered as my sister, Marcia, and Dave made it official and joined their families as one on the beach in a touching ceremony. Congratulations!

September -- ArtPrize! Connor and I toured the art twice this year...here he is seconds before this Top Ten contender became attached to his fleece jacket...in front of the artist. We had a tense moment as I instructed him to walk straight forward...and keep on walking right on out of the GR Public Museum! When we returned a few days later with his cousin we noted that there was a barrier surrounding the piece to keep people from recreating that drama! :-)

 September -- Fall soccer...

September -- ...and football. Connor with friends Joey and Jack on the sidelines at West Catholic during a flag football game.

October -- We celebrated Connor's birthday a week late with a corn maze and hay ride celebration...and chocolate cupcakes!

October -- We had an Angry Bird in the house for Halloween this year!

November -- Connor and Reagan invited their cousin, Mark, (he is an Army Veteran who served a tour of duty in Iraq and one in Afghanistan) to a special ceremony at their school on Veteran's Day. Love that those red, white, and blue shirts made another appearance! Classic!

December -- This conversation between Connor and Santa looks very serious! I'm happy to report that he did make an appearance at our house this year after all...Connor must have done some fast talking when they visited at his school pancake breakfast fundraiser!

There you go, its been one heck of a year! Thanks for sharing in it and for continuing to check in on my blog. Every writer needs readers...and I truly appreciate you!