Even our dogs are Bears fans...

It is football season already, which means Eric has initiated the "Bears gear" Sunday rule. This past weekend, that even applied to the dogs as well. Happy tailgating to all! Go Bears!

Life Lessons Learned on the Back of a Harley

I grew up begging my dad to take me for a spin on the back of his old Harley. Warm Michigan summer nights were filled with a loud rumbling engine and me screaming in my dad's ear to "go faster." It was only fitting that I ended up marrying a guy who always dreamed of owning a Harley...

Shortly after Eric and I started dating, he made an offer on a 1994 Heritage Softail, and have been coming up with excuses to go somewhere "for a ride" ever since (minus the months from about November - March of course). It wasn't until this past weekend, however, that we finally took a real bona-fide "bike trip." We stayed over night in Ludinton, and spent most of a Saturday morning wandering around a little town called Pentwater. From there we casually meandered our way south, by way of back roads--some of which took us through large sunflower fields and others only a couple hundred feet from Lake Michigan. The scenery was amazing, the company (Eric's parents were with us on their bike) was awesome, and I didn't think about anything but that very single moment in time.

There is something all together freeing about being on a motorcycle, in the middle of nowhere, with no schedule. And, when you see other people on bikes, you give the biker wave, or as I like to call it the "Harley Hi." It doesn't matter who you are, where you're from, what political party you identify with, or what your religion is--if you pass another motorcycle you wave. Not a big old, "hi how are ya" wave though. It is a low, suddle two to three fingered hand nod. So as I sat on the back of our old bike, with nothing else to think about, I pondered what it was about that fine piece of machinery that brought us all together. It intrigued me that we have a hard time saying hi to people we know in our everyday lives, but go out of our way to wave to people we don't know and most likely never will, going 60 miles an hour. Perhaps a life lesson waiting to be learned...

Stay tuned for our first almost cross country trip (hopefully to the East Coast and back)... With all that free time to myself, I am sure I will come up with something else to write about....

50 Years

I spent this past weekend celebrating my Grandparents' 50th Wedding Anniversary at a Fabulous Fifties themed party. It was an amazing event, filled with amazing people. I always knew my grandparents were well-liked, but the 115 people in attendance to witness them renew their vows solidified it for me. They are so loved... 50 plus years together and you would think they are still dating the way they look at each other... They have the kind of love we all hope for...

The picture here to the left is not from Time Magazine, circa 1955. It is my grandparents...

To see pictures from the event, click here:

http://picasaweb.google.com/thedeboers/GrandmaAndGrandpaS50thAnniversaryParty

To see the slide show Eric and I made for the event, view it on YouTube at:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wCZvSki3MlM

My Company is the Coolest!

Calling all YouTubers! In order to brand ourselves as a cool company, Perrigo has recently created a video and launched it on YouTube! Please, check it out! Two words--DANCING SCIENTISTS! Yeah, I know you are intrigued! Check out the link below!

http://www.youtube.com/user/PerrigoCompany

HR Girls Just Wanna Have Fun!

For those of you who doubt that HR Professionals can have a good time and that yes, we have a sense of humor, I give you proof... We hire, we fire, we develop, we retain... and boy do we know how to karaoke!

Rule #659 in determining if you have a cool manager: She overcomes her first time karaoke jitters and does a rendition of Cyndi Lauper one will never forget... Honestly, how many of us can say, "I sang karaoke with my boss!"


"When the working day is done,
Oh,girls,
They wanna have fu-un,
Oh,girls,
Just wanna have fun...."

We Want Change

I have been out of the blog world for quite some time now... It seems as though I am too busy with "life" to throw a couple thoughts into a text space. Yikes. I have a good life, a good job, a great husband--everything is absolutely perfect--for me. Lately I have been so caught up in work and life outside of work, I have forgotten how completely passionate I am about being a part of a movement. Not just any movement--a movement for change and hope...for all people. It seems when I graduated from college and entered the "real world" I forgot what I was all about--where I came from, who I am. I know what I do and who I am impacts people, but how much? And, shouldn't I be doing more?

I have been inspired. I spent 2 hours waiting in line and in a packed arena to hear Barack Obama speak--looking back on it, I would have waited 24 more. I am inspired to believe we can be better, do better, and help others better, as Americans. I hope for a better world--a better America, and for a government I can believe in. I may have "grown up" but I never stopped being an idealist.

People ask, why I support Barack Obama--I ask, how can you not? He is bringing people together--all races, ages, gender, and religions. Isn't this what America stands for? People ask, what does he say that inspires you so much?

Read On--you decide...

It was a creed written into the founding documents that declared the destiny of a nation.

Yes we can.

It was whispered by slaves and abolitionists as they blazed a trail toward freedom.

Yes we can.

It was sung by immigrants as they struck out from distant shores and pioneers who pushed westward against an unforgiving wilderness.

Yes we can.

It was the call of workers who organized; women who reached for the ballots; a President who chose the moon as our new frontier; and a King who took us to the mountaintop and pointed the way to the Promised Land.

Yes we can to justice and equality.

Yes we can to opportunity and prosperity.

Yes we can heal this nation.

Yes we can repair this world.

Yes we can.

We know the battle ahead will be long, but always remember that no matter what obstacles stand in our way, nothing can stand in the way of the power of millions of voices calling for change.

We have been told we cannot do this by a chorus of cynics...they will only grow louder and more dissonant ........... We've been asked to pause for a reality check. We've been warned against offering the people of this nation false hope.

But in the unlikely story that is America, there has never been anything false about hope.

Now the hopes of the little girl who goes to a crumbling school in Dillon are the same as the dreams of the boy who learns on the streets of LA; we will remember that there is something happening in America; that we are not as divided as our politics suggests; that we are one people; we are one nation; and together, we will begin the next great chapter in the American story with three words that will ring from coast to coast; from sea to shining sea --

Yes. We. Can.

-Barack Obama