Chicago Shots

a nice afternoon walk around wrigleyville with joe, dustin, and mom

rest room sign in boys town

IPAs at Timothy o'tooles while watching the red wings

Grange Hall

My mom planned a fundraiser bus trip to Chicago this past weekend, so Juli&Rinda&Abby&Mom&Joe all hopped on the bus and headed to the Windy City. Our first stop was to meet my brother, Dustin, and his newest lady, Caitlin, at a restaurant in the Westloop called Grange Hall known for it's local eats (Michigan local, actually) and homemade goodies. It was quite a hike from our stop on Michigan Avenue to the restaurant, but well worth it. The neighborhood was adorable and the building was very quaint with a great old barn door and an inviting outdoor sitting area. The inside was fun with fresh flowers on all the tables and eclectic farm-themed decorations on the walls. And, of course, the entire menu looked delicious. Joe got the most amazing looking item, though: A Reuben burger with a corned-beef-patty&pumpernickel-toast topped with egg&sauerkraut and thousand island dressing. The service was perceptive&impeccable, the portions perfectly-size, and even the restrooms were petite&pretty. I would definitely love to go back.

Fresh Flowers

Reuben Burger

Front Entrance&Patio

Line of Seasonings&Sauces

Booze Bar

Comment Card

Ingrid in RO

Her Instagram

Joe&I went to dinner last night then saw Ingrid Michaelson perform

at the Royal Oak Music Theater.

She's an amazing, quirky, free-spirited, genuine performer

and a pure pleasure to watch live.

Though I'm not completely sold on her new album,

the old classics were excellent and the atmosphere was perfection.

Girls Chase Boys Chase Girls

The Marquee

The lights were mostly purple (not that you can tell)...

The Stage&Backdrop before the Encore

A few of my current favorite lyrics:

"Did any of me stick at all?
Can you hear me singing through the walls?
There's a part of you that stays with me someone else gets to know.
Did any of me ever stick at all?"

-Stick

"Here we go, dancing on our own, inside this house that we have never known, never known.
Here we go, going in alone into the dark and wonderful unknown.

Let us go, let us go...
In the best way, you’ll be the death of me."

-Wonderful Unknown

Zoo Date

After brunch, Elise&Erica joined me at the Detroit Zoo.

Bunnyville was going on for Easter Weekend,

so we made a food donation and joined the herd of children at the zoo.

Luckily, most of the little ones were entertained by the Bunny-themed festivities,

so we were able to enjoy the animals with a bit more peace.

First we walked through the butterfly & bird gardens in a beautiful domed building.

There must have been something in the air, cause all the animals were sleeping

and - oh my goodness - it was so adorable.

The grizzly bear was passed out on his back with his paw over his face.

The lions were spooning and the tiger had found a nice spot in the shade.

The animals that were up&about were so wonderful, too.

I forget how much they take my breath away until I find myself at a zoo again.

The zebra hung back away from the fence, but the stripes were still incredible.

The giraffe awkwardly tucked his back legs and plopped down on the ground for grass.

And the big-bodied rhinos wandered side-by-side through their area.

My knees were hurting me, so I didn't walk through the kangaroo exhibit,

but from the back side of the fence I could see the girls walking past the sleepy lil animals.

Before leaving, we got snacks - a pretzel for Elise, dip-n-dots for Erica, & cheese popcorn for me.

Then we started our journey back through Royal Oak to the car

stopping first for the skirt, shoes, & ring I'd bought and the clock Erica had found.

Brunch @ Toast

I've always been a breakfast eater, so when I moved to the Detroit area I had to find a new favorite breakfast spot. Erica introduced me to a place called Toast in Birmingham, MI. She raved that I'd love the decor and insisted that I try it. So we met for brunch one Saturday and I fell in love. Now, it's my favorite place to go when I'm cravin' a good breakfast, which obviously meant I suggested Elise&Erica meet me there for brunch on Saturday before our Zoo date. We sat down and all said the word "mimosa," so we ordered Mimosas for the Table - a bottle of champagne and carafe of orange juice just for the 3 of us. Goodness was it delicious. The perfect addition to our brunch items. Our server seemed to think we were a pretty entertaining table also - probably even more so after we'd each downed 3 mimosas. We sat&talked giggling&gossiping for about an hour before heading out for the day.

And I successfully turned another Bestie into a Toast Lover.

mug on the table next to us that I had to take a picture of

Misc Spring

i found a bag of bath & bodyworks while cleaning

got my "save the date" for shannon&derek's fall wedding

Joe&I hit up la feast for my favorite lentil soup

Joe's mom discovered leggings over the winter & dresses so cute these days

joe, linds, & i slammed some beers with this view before a red wings game

I turned around 2x on I-75 to get a picture of this "dyke" house

this flower bloomed in my front yard just in time for easter

Mom's 50th Surprise

My mom turned 50 this past week and my sister-in-law helped me plan a Surprise Party for her.
We found a nice restaurant called Salt & Pepper Pub in Holland, MI with a private room for 30 people
and Chelsea created some adorable decorations for the quiet dinner celebration
including mason jars lined with patterned paper filled with dowels holding old pictures
and a framed piece of chicken wire displaying more photos.
She also put together a cute banner and a chalkboard with stats from 50 years ago.
My main contribution was the cake, which I ordered from Holland Cakery right next door to S&P.
Since I knew cake would be my mom's favorite part, it had to be incredible and it definitely was.
.Almond Cake with Raspberry Filling and Butter Cream Frosting.
Though she didn't want a party at all, I think she was genuinely surprised and happy with the event
and I'm pretty sure my sister-in-law had a lot of fun creating things while off on maternity leave.

Last Wings Game

It was the Red Wings last regular season home game and Scott wanted to get a bunch of people together to attend, so he bought tickets for Joe&I, himself&Linds, his parents, his cousin&boyfriend, and another college friend and we all headed down last night after work. Linds met Joe&I at the MGM Parking Structure where the 3 of us had a few beers before walking toward Joe Louis. We stopped at Cobo Joe's for a tequila shot before heading through the Cobo center (with a quick stop in the men's bathroom - yep, all 3 of us) and onto the arena for a tour of the press box compliments of Joe's fellow track coach. Linds&I got to put on the official Fox Sports Detroit headphones and stand in the DJ booth. We got to talk to the guy who does play reviews and even listened to him call Toronto to check in. It was honestly very cool and really neat to see before the Red Wings officially move to the new arena and Joe Louis is no more. The game wasn't as good as the pre-game considering we lost, but the beer was good and the company even better and the walk through Detroit was excellent.

Just Because

I wasn't having the best of days and suddenly a delivery man appeared at my office door

with flowers from Joe and a card reading: "Just Because."