My Birthday

Today my parents threw a little birthday celebration for me at their house. It was a very enjoyable Sunday afternoon - my brother was even in town from Chicago. We had a wonderful brunch and cake for dessert (yummy Hummingbird Cake from Zingerman's). It was a delicious meal and I was stuffed!!
After the wonderful meal we (my parents, husband, grandparents, brother, and aunt) played a hand of cards called "5, 4, 3, 2, 1" (known as "Oh Hell" to others). I didn't win - couldn't they have let the birthday girl win??
I also got to open presents and my husband surprised me with a new lens for my camera - the "Nikon 35 mm f/1.8 AF-S Dx." It's great for low light situations so I don't need to use a flash so often which is fabulous.
A gift that you crafters would be interested in is a BAG FULL of yarn from my Grandparents. They gave me 4 skeins of wool yarn in 3 different, coordinating colors for a total of almost 2000 yards of yarn! I'm thinking I might made a felted carpet bag from the yarn. Any other suggestions?
We brought our animals over to my parents house, including little "Dexter" hoping that the added interaction with people would help him learn social skills. He had a blast running around with Mia and snuggling with every family member. He's still bottle feeding and has absolutely no interest in trying to eat anything other than something coming out of a little latex nipple. But I'm sure he won't eat out of a bottle forever so I guess I just need a little patience....So today was a nice Sunday afternoon. A day filled with great food, presents, my brother I never see, and the love of my family. Now it's time for the week to begin...

Nichols Arboretum at the University of Michigan

What an enjoyable Sunday afternoon I had with my husband and dogs. We took an hour to walk around "Nichols Arboretum" downtown Ann Arbor. It was a warm, sunny day and it was a busy day at the park. We started at the Washington Heights entrance which is mid-elevation near the University Hospital and then we walked down towards the river. We finished our walk when we got to the River Entry. I sat and waited in the parking lot and Sam retrieved the car. The dogs had a blast running up and down the hills and sniffing all the smells and I enjoyed spending the afternoon with my dear husband.What else is Labor Day weekend for? It's time to relax and enjoy friends and family...

Art in the blistering heat

The Ann Arbor Art Fair is in full effect! For those of you who are unfamiliar with the large fair here's the knitty gritty:
The Ann Arbor Art Fairs consist of four "award-winning" different shows (the "Original" Ann Arbor Street Art Fair, the Ann Arbor State Street Art Fair, the Ann Arbor Summer Art Fair, and the Ann Arbor South University Art Fair).It is estimated that almost a half million people attend the various fairs that take over the entire downtown Ann Arbor, MI area. The roads are shut down and booths are set up in the streets. Artists, vendors, and local shops set up elaborate booths and sell their goods for 4 days (this year it started today and goes until Saturday).
As an "Ann Arborite" it is interesting to see the reaction of other locals to the show. Many locals HATE and I mean despise the shows. Traffic in the area is greatly increased with people unfamiliar with the roads. Streets are shut down and the summer lull (Ann Arbor is a drastically different town once the university students leave for the summer) is transformed into a loud buzz. I, however, enjoy the fairs. Each year I attend and enjoy people watching and looking at all of the different art available. As an attendee each year, I have noticed that a lot of the artisans have the exact same work (which is a real downer) but when I run across a new artist with a new craft it is exciting! It's fun to see all of the crazy ideas running through other creative people's brains. A lot of time it gives me inspiration or ideas for my own work. I also enjoy all of the sales from the local botiques in the area. It's the perfect time to purchase Christmas presents (gasp, I know).
Since I can't walk very far, Sam and I just did one block of the fair. But it was a real enjoyable evening even though it was humid and hot! And we also enjoyed a sunset...Does anyone else have a local fair that they enjoy? Do you make any purchases or sell at a fair?

A Weekend in Review: Dogs and Cats

This weekend has been filled with some animal photography. My dogs were in an unusually photogenic mood on Saturday and posed for an impromptu photo session in the living room. These are some of the pictures that we ended up with.
For those of you who don't read my blog often, the dog on the left is Maddie (6 year old miniature poodle) and the dog on the right is Mia (1 1/2 year old Maltese). They are the best of buddies and play with each other all day long!
Maddie poses for the camera and gets her minute in the limelight.

And Mia gives her stereotypical "I'm just a little puppy - I look so innocent". She has some good puppy dog eyes (has anyone seen the Pixar movie "Bolt" - she's got that look down to a science!)

Enough of my puppies. About 3 weeks ago I noticed that the people who live next door to me have a small colony of feral cats living under their deck. They never go in their backyard so the deck is just abandoned. The neighbor on the other side of me feeds the cats and looks after them. I keep telling myself that I need to trap them to get them spayed/neutered. But I haven't done it yet. Here is the mamma and son which like to come onto our patio and sun themselves. They are beautiful cats.
So that was my weekend - filled with dogs and cats! And a trip to the local Farmer's market...

A Quick Pic

I've always had a fascination with windmills. When I was a child I made my parents pull over to take pictures and look in awe at the various windmill fields in California. This week I came across this old charmer...

Chicago in May

We went to Chicago with my parents for the weekend in May to enjoy a show (we saw Mary Poppins), visit my brother who lives in Wicker Park, and to simultaneously celebrate Mother's Day and my mother's birthday. We had an enjoyable time.One morning for breakfast we drove to Wicker Park from the Westin Hotel on the Magnificent Mile (I LOVE their beds!) and had brunch at "The Bongo Room". I had heard reports that their food was worth the line (there are no reservations). So we sent my brother there a little earlier to put our name on the list (an expected 2 hr wait was cut short to 50 minutes or so). The food was just delicious. I plan on eating there again when I'm in Chicago and the prices are reasonable.
We also ate at the Atwood Cafe before seeing "Mary Poppins". The food was magnificent and the atmosphere was quiet and intimate. It was a nice place to get dinner before the show because it is located in the theater district and just a couple of blocks from where we were headed. Mary Poppins was a surprisingly great show. I found myself laughing and smiling through the whole program which says something about what I was watching. I would recommend it to almost anyone, especially anyone with kids. It's something they would enjoy and you would enjoy simultaneously.
This is a picture taken from my brother's condo. He's got an amazing view of the city from one side of the condo and a view of the lake from the other side. A much cooler view than the view from my Michigan home!

It's been forever!

You can tell that the summer is here because life is getting busy for me and it's hard to spend the time to update this blog! But I finally sat down at my computer and uploaded pictures from my camera for the past 2 months. Eeks! But after downloading, sorting, and editing - here is an assortment to show you where I've been...This is a picture of a tiger from an anniversary trip to the Detroit zoo with my husband. We celebrated 6 years together. The weather was sunny and cool - perfect for a walk at the zoo.The giraffes were another fun set of animals to watch. I wish they had gotten a little closer.The area for the seals was beautiful.
They have a tube that you can walk through the middle of the water exhibit and see the seals swimming above and around you.
All in all, we had a nice afternoon at the Detroit Zoo. We saw lots of animals, ate a delicious picnic, and most of all made some memories.

April showers do bring May flowers

Some pictures of the flowers that are in bloom in our garden. "Aaah, I love this weather!"

Nice and Toasty Out

It's a gorgeous day outside! I was marveling at the tulips that have popped up in our front yard. There are so many different shapes and colors to look at. I just wish the tulip season lasted longer!Sam got the gardening itch this weekend and spent a day in the dirt planting some shrubs on our dreaded hill in the backyard. To make a hill worse, it's made of clay. So not much grows back there. But we're hoping to sell this place later this year and move so we needed to get that area in check. He did a nice job of planting after spending several hours researching the best plants. Now we just need to cross our fingers and hope for the best!

Weekend Experiments

This weekend flew by for me! It felt like just yesterday was Friday morning and it's already time for Monday. Ugh!
We did a lot of stuff this weekend - from dodging hale storms on Saturday afternoon after a quick walk around the farmer's market for the first time this season (luckily we were in the midst of eating some yummy Zingerman's sandwiches and their outdoor tent held up to the pounding winds) to making homemade laundry soap.
Most of my activities turned out to be a lot of fun. I really enjoyed dodging the hale storm. Every person in a 2 mile radius ran inside for cover. I think I was the only fool standing outside! We decided that it would be fun to walk around downtown with Mia in tow. But since we had a dog with us, we were stuck outside (even though the nice folks at Zingerman's did offer me to come in the entrance for the storm but I declined). My husband was safe inside - ordering the sandwiches for us. But the bad part of the storm only lasted 5 minutes and it will be a moment I'll remember for the rest of my life. I was hysterically laughing - trying my hardest to get in the middle of the tent so the balls of ice wouldn't hit me or Mia. The wind was so strong that it just pelted the rain sideways into the tent. But little Mia just slept in the bag that I was carrying her in. She paid absolutely no attention to the what-felt-like-a-hurricane!
The laundry soap project has been on my list of to-do's for months. It seemed like an easy thing for me to do that was economical and green. There are many recipes out there (all are the same ingredients but have different ratios). I chose to follow the one here. We'll see how it washes clothes...
I have other projects to post, but I'll check in with ya'll tomorrow...

"A Flower A Day...

Keeps the doctor away." Isn't that how the saying goes? Well, if so - here is your dose of flowers for the day. We had plans to meet up with my mother-in-law today for a trip to the University of Michigan Botanical Gardens. There was an orchid festival going on. Unfortunately I got an infection in my lip this past week and was put on antibiotics which are not being kind to my stomach. So I had to sit out. I was looking forward to spending time in the nice weather and getting to practice my photography. Instead I gave a crash course to my hubby and sent him out with my camera. He came back with some impressive shots for a newbie! So I thought I would post them for him. I missed out on a good afternoon - a walk around the gardens, Turkey Reuben sandwiches from Zingerman's (if you have never had Zingerman's - you are missing out!), and a cold Pilsner Urquell out on my mother-in-law's deck. It hit the mid 70's today and I was stuck inside throwing up! Not my idea of a great weekend. But I did manage to finish up a sweater I've been working on. Now I just need to sew up the seams, attach the buttons, and then I'm finished. Aahhh!

Spring is Here!

Spring Flower Explosion!

It's officially spring, right? Nothing evokes the feeling of spring like looking at tulips. The tulips in my garden are popping out of the ground and getting me excited for the explosion of color. But even in all their glory they will not be close to the fields in Holland which are currently in full bloom. Look at the aerial pictures of the tulips fields (newspaper article found here)
These fields are crazy! I would love to be plopped right in the middle of them.
But in a month or so I can look forward to the start of my meager front yard tulip season. But I'll have to put Holland's tulip fields on my "bucket list."

Wedding Planning...

If you've read the first couple of posts to my blog you will see that my sister recently got engaged to a nice guy. They are now in the planning stages for their wedding and today we spent the afternoon at a couple wedding expos/shows. The first show was at Vintage to Vogue (now named V2V) in Ann Arbor. It was a nice show with more upscale Ann Arbor vendors available to talk to and answer questions. There was also a fashion show. My sister had a nice time trying on some Italian dresses since there was a trunk show going on (I can't remember the designer...) and fell in love with a Grecian looking gown that looked just like her - simple and lovely. We also tried forkfuls of lush cakes from almond all the way to carrot from probably a dozen bakeries. I have to say I love the cake from a bakery in Saline called "Bakers Nook". It was moist and delicious! But for a birthday cake I will always go back to my favorite cake - Zingerman's Delicatessen's Hummingbird Cake (see picture at right). Almost like a carrot cake, it's simply delicious!
We also hit up the Weber's hotel in Ann Arbor for their bridal expo. It wasn't as nice... a little hectic and overwhelming. I felt like I was on the floor of Wallstreet and everyone was yelling and waving their arms. But my sister ran into a couple of nice photographers so I guess it was worth the entrance fee.
All of this wedding planning makes me greatful that I'm done with my wedding. I loved the wedding planning for my big day but boy am I glad that I don't have to do it again! Luckily as a sister I can join up for the fun stuff and leave all the hard decisions to my sister. Aaahh...

A Little Sunshine...

Tucson Pictures

My husband just got back from Tucson - here are some clear skies (something we miss here in Michigan!)

Rackham Auditorium

Last warm fall day...

Election Day 2008

Wow! I got back from voting. Supposedly it was a really short line but it took 1.5 hours to wait in a line that was probably only 40 people long... I can't imagine the wait for people in other precincts. I do suggest that people bring a folding chair and a book to ready if you haven't voted already...

Happy Halloween!

Today was a nice day - warm and sunny! It was a perfect day for a quick family portrait. So I set up the tripod and we took a quick pic to document our 10 year anniversary. Too cute...

We stopped by my parents and I wrote down the name of the books my mom purchased at the local yarn shop for shawl patterns. She purchased:
1. Folk Shawls by Cheryl Oberle
2. Wrapped in Comfort by Alison Hyde
The project my mom has started for Leah's wedding is called "Bigfoot Shawl" by Alison Hyde. She is knitting the shawl with Katia's "Colibri" in light grey on 40" U.S. size 8 Ebony circular knitting needles. The pattern calls for Frog Tree's Alpaca Wool (645 yards) but it was hard to find a light color yarn that looked perfect for a wedding. I don't believe she has gotten really far but I will keep you updated on her progress...