Dana Burland

Maybe this should be filed away in a you-had-to-be-there box, but I'm sharing anyway. I work with a lady who is a total, total character. Deb has been with Steelcase for a million years, and she's a down to earth, to the point, personable yet no-nonsense kind of leader. I joked with her several weeks ago about how I should be her for Halloween and she said "DO IT!!!" She has such a simple and predictable style that I immediately knew I could duplicate it--as long as I got the hair, glasses and the coffee-cup-in-hand down. So I did. And to my surprise, my co-worker Lois did too. We had people cracking up all day, mostly Deb, who couldn't get over Lois and I. Actually I should say I think we had people cracking up all day--I actually couldn't make out any faces looking out of my reading glasses. By the way, the leopard shirt was a gag gift for Deb about a year ago. She carries it in her work backpack so had me model it as well--which spurred a b...

I love listening to a good podcast while I'm cooking, workout out or picking weeds from the yard. Life is glamorous, what can I say. One of my faves is Note To Self , which has quick episodes on how to manage living in a digital world (and I am a material girl). Cough, anyway. While doing a quick workout and pulling the remainder of my green bean plant from the side garden I listened to the most recent episode--" It's Time to Deal With Your Photo Clutter ". And while I so get why this is a topic, I also realized it didn't really apply to me. Because I have been dealing with my photo clutter. For 12 years. And it's been working beautifully. These days almost all my photos are taken on my iPhone. It's just a darn good point and shoot camera, and it's always with me. Even when I'd haul another camera around, my technique worked well. I keep a folder on my laptop of photos. In it is a folder for every year--2003 to 2015. In those folders are ...

I bought canning equipment more than a year ago, and have been terrified of it since then. There’s just something about the danger of the recipe, can seals and massive pot of boiling water that got to me. When I found out a friend of ours is a canning pro, I asked if she’d teach me how. On Sunday I drove over to Robin’s house with my huge canning box for a lesson. And you know what… it’s not that hard. At all. Here’s what I learned: 1. Get boiling Your canning pot should have enough water so when all jars are submerged they’re covered with at least an inch of water. It’ll take a million years to get that much water to boil, even with Robin’s technique of placing the pot between two burners and cranking them both up to high. 2. Jar sterilizing Place all jars (not lids or rings) in the top rack of your dishwasher and set on sanitize or sterilize. 3. Find a recipe Robin’s technique is simple—Google for a recipe. Canning has finicky (cough, scary) rules about acid and proc...

We had a pretty good weekend over here. In case you missed it, MSU won their football game. We heard about the win while walking the frozen Grand Valley sidewalks en route to the stadium to watch them smush Michigan Tech. Grand Valley shoots off fireworks for every touchdown the Lakers score--I think Ben considered every firework a celebration for his beloved Spartans, though. Somewhere around the third quarter GVSU's beloved president, T-Haas, walked up the steps right next to where we were sitting. Behind Ben, he's probably my second choice for husband, so I immediately grabbed my coworker Lindsay and abandoned my seat to get a photo with him. Whada sport. Sunday we had all sorts of fall plans--a long drive to check out all the changing colors on the trees and a stop at a new cider mill. I figured we'd tackle a little yard work first and then get on our way. Well, "a little work" turned into a five hour cleaning spree and 11 yard waste bags later o...

Most weeknights we tune in to at least part of NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt. Soon after he took over from Brian Williams, Ben announced he was certain Lester had a hidden pony tail trailing down his back. I mean, look at him. You can see it, can't you? In fact now you can't un see it, am I right? Now that the possibility of a PT is on the table, it's unreal watching how NBC never shows Lester from the back or side. #coverup For reasons I can't explain or remember, I got on the topic of Lester Holt and his possible PT with some coworkers. One coworker did a Google search for "Lester Holt pony tail" and this was the first hit : Emily, we feel like "YES tho!!" too.

A year and a half ago Chelsea, Ashley and I girls-weekend'ed in Nashville --this year with a new mama among us and less vacation time available than we'd like, we took our antics up north. Our girl's weekend outside of Traverse City couldn't have been better. We slept in and stayed up barely that late at a cozy family cabin 30 minutes outside of downtown. We wine tasted--I sipped a cider as the DD. Fall coziness outside Tandem Cider in Suttons Bay The view inside out from Leelanau Cellars winery And then, to the joy of all of us but utter bliss of Ashley especially, we stumbled upon a picture perfect U-Pick flower stand by the side of the road. Can you even? And we ate chocolate. And the best quiche of my life at a fancy French cafe. And shopped. And giggled. And whined. And ooh'ed and ahh'ed at the beauty surrounding us.

ArtPrize is a busy time for our humble adobe. This year we’re hosting both families and a one night stay by my cousin/his girlfriend. Never have our guest sheets been washed so much or our air mattress remained inflated for so long. As for the art I’d give it a solid B. There didn’t seem to be as much big art outside, and what I did see this year seemed to be strangely similar to what I’ve seen in years past—pencil drawings, animals made of silverware, jewels dangling from fishing line to create a 3D scene, large quiltwork/painted landscapes and of course a Moses mural that was poorly done but still made a top 25 list because #biblebelt.   Aside from the art I took my family to the outlet mall (a hit), The Old Goat restaurant (a flop) and Grand Valley’s main campus for some exploring. While my mom and I scoped out the new library the boys went indoor rock climbing. Yes, the boys, including my dad who scaled up that wall like it was no big deal. Color me impressed. ...