U of M Game

My mom's cousins, Pat & Kenna, are both U of M grads and Kenna & her husband Dave are HUGE U of M fans (much like John & I feel about Clemson!) and we were able to buy tickets from them for the Indiana game. We drove to Ann Arbor with Pat early Saturday morning to tailgate with Kenna & Dave because the game was at noon. We were really excited to see the stadium, known as the Big House, because we'd heard it was a lot of fun and apparently huge. Once we got there we ate and enjoyed a bloody mary :) Here we are heading into the stadium:

When we got in we were actually a little surprised that it wasn't as big as we were expecting - we both thought that Death Valley felt bigger, but we knew that it didn't seat nearly as many as the Big House. We soon found out that the rows are packed in tight, and there is NO leg room! It seemed like everyone was crammed in like sardines but they all seemed to be Ok with it or used to it - we've just been spoiled by spacious rows at Clemson:)

Student section & band

It started to rain during the middle of the game but it never got too heavy and luckily we had jackets with us, but it didn't do much to help my hair situation!

Michigan ended up winning a nail biter in the end which was exciting. We had a lot of fun going to the game because we missed our college football!! It made us even more excited to go to Clemson for the Wake Forest game on October 17th! Also, John's birthday is next weekend and Kenna & Dave invited us to stay with them at their house on Torch Lake, so it looks like we might head up there and enjoy the leaves changing color! It seems like autumn arrived over night and it has gotten chilly pretty quickly. Welcome to Michigan!

Not much new to write about! Last Friday night (9/11) John and I went out for drinks with Kim & Keith and it was great to get out and enjoy some nightlife in downtown Royal Oak. Last weekend we really didn't do much but relax and clean up the apartment and I finished the rest of the million wedding thank you notes! haha On Tuesday (9/15) I had my first new member Junior League meeting and I am so excited about it! Kim and I are joining together and it seems like there are some great women in there. I've already signed up for a volunteering opportunity called Pumpkin Patch - it's going to be mostly for children with different activities that are Halloween/fall themed. John and I have been playing a lot of tennis over the past several months, so that's really been a lot of fun and it gets us some exercise! It has just recently started to get cooler here and it definitely feels like fall has arrived, so I'm a little sad that we may not be able to play tennis for much longer. This weekend we were pretty busy running errands and enjoying different activities around here. On Friday night we went to a street concert in downtown Ferndale - they had shut down some of the road down there and set up a stage where different bands were playing and they also had a Beer Garden tent with about 30 beers brewed locally in Michigan. It was cold but we stayed for a beer. On Saturday it was a really nice day and we went to the Royal Oak Farmer's Market, the library, and walked down to Barnes & Noble and I got the new Dan Brown book. After that we went to a really cool market in Royal Oak called Holiday Market - it has really great fresh produce, huge cheese & coffee selection, cool imported food, etc. etc. Then we went to Westborn market that is very similar to Holiday Market but just a bit bigger - picture of it below. We just like walking around and browsing those types of stores - John loves looking at the coffee :).

After all that we went to an art fair in Ferndale and walked around looking at the art booths. We had read on the flier for the art fair that if you brought a blank tshirt, one of the artists had a screen printing booth and they would screen print your shirt for you, so we both did that! They also had some food booths set up by local restaurants so we ate lunch there and then came home because we were pretty tired. We cooked dinner here and watched the rest of the Clemson vs. BC game (which we won!). Today we tried a new church in Birmingham, First United Methodist, and we liked it. It's a beautiful church - see below.

We are still looking for a church with a group of young married couples and it's been a bit difficult to find the right combination of everything, but we'll keep trying! After church we went to lunch and then to get me a pair of cleats because tomorrow is our first kickball game! Kim & Keith invited us to join their team and we're really excited about it. We also did our weekly grocery shopping and cooked a delicious dinner of marinated chicken & vegetable shishkabobs. Now we're watching the Emmy's and not too excited about going back to work tomorrow, but looking forward to kickball!

Weekend in the Windy City!

We had such a great time in Chicago! It's a great city and there's so much to do, and our feet were hurting after walking all over the dadgum place! Well the trip started on Saturday morning when we drove about 3.5 hours from Royal Oak to Michigan City, Indiana, about an hour outside of Chicago, and took the train from there into downtown Chicago. From what we heard, the parking in Chicago is like New York and is very difficult to come by and expensive, so it made more sense for us to leave our car at the train station.

Waiting for the train in Indiana

We got into Millenium Station in Chicago and had to walk a few blocks to our hotel. We stayed at the Congress Plaza Hotel, which we got a really good deal on at Priceline.com, and it was the perfect location for us right on Michigan Avenue. As soon as we checked in and dropped off our luggage we walked to Grant and Millenium Park, which were basically across the street from the hotel.

Here we are in Grant Park, in front of the Buckingham Fountain

They were having a jazz festival there and there were a lot of people there. We got lunch at the festival because a lot of local restaurants had come and set up tents where you could buy tickets to purchase the food, so we actually got a cheeseburger from the Billy Goat Tavern, made famous by Saturday Night Live - the "Pepsi, no Coke" skit. http://www.billygoattavern.com/home.html
We got our food and drinks and sat in the park listening to the music, then walked over to the Millennium Park and Cloud Gate, or "The Bean"! It's supposed to look like a drop of liquid mercury, and the cool thing is that when you are looking at it you see Chicago reflected in it.

Cloud Gate

After walking around the park, we walked down along the river to the Field Natural History Museum and the Shedd Aquarium.

Along the way we passed our hotel - you can see it on the right

Looking back at Chicago along the walk

Field Museum straight ahead, Shedd Aquarium on the left

Inside the museum

John and his new buddy

Penguins at the aquarium

We went back to the hotel and rested for a bit and then went out to get some Chicago style pizza at Giorgianos, and it was delicious! We got side tracked along the way because the location we were looking for had actually closed, so by the time we got to the new location we were dying for some pizza!

I thought the pizza buzzer was kinda funny



Chicago pizza! It's called stuffed pizza actually - very deep dish.

We finished dinner, and Robert, one of John's friends and classmates from MUSC, and his fiance met us and we went out for a drink. Robert accepted a fellowship at a hospital in Chicago, so he was able to suggest some things to do and help us navigate the city.

On our walk to the train we walked over the river that runs through the middle of downtown Chicago, and I love this picture!

On Sunday morning we walked down the Navy Pier and checked out the north side of Chicago. The Navy Pier has restaurants and docks several boats you can take to see Chicago from the water, as well as some carnival type stuff.

At lunch on Navy Pier

After lunch and walking along the pier we went up to Michigan Ave, or "The Magnificent Mile" - that's where all the good shopping is.

John Hancock building - we later went up to the 96 floor (right below the very top) for a drink in the Signature Lounge

We stopped in at Borders to rest and read for a bit - we had done a ton of walking!

In the Signature Lounge enjoying the view

Drinks that reminded us of our honeymoon :)

After drinks we went to dinner at Rock Bottom Brewery, which was delicious, and our waitress was a Clemson grad from SC! It was pretty crazy. We had already bought tickets for Second City, a comedy play that was a lot like SNL with a variety of different skits, and we went to that after dinner. It was HILARIOUS and we both loved it.

Chicago was so much fun and we're hoping to go back sometime soon. It will be especially fun next time because we know our way around now. We were lucky we had such great weather too - the perfect way to spend the long Labor Day weekend!

First days of work and busy cooking

I had my first days of work at Motor - it went really well and more than anything I'm so glad to be busy and not sitting at home! I've been working on Porsche projects and training as I go. Something funny/exciting happened to John today, but first I need to give some background information. About a month or so ago we went to Chipotle for lunch (it's like Qdoba or Moes, but better), and they had a fishbowl to drop a business card in for a chance to win and prize and John was excited and said "this is the first time I've ever been able to do this!" Today Chipotle called him and said he had won a tray of burritos for his office! He's a lucky guy :)


We went to play golf with Kim & Keith on Saturday and got to see their puppy Hank - so cute!

Pics of John playing golf:

When we got to the pro shop to pay, the grandmotherly woman who worked there gave us free squash from her home garden. They were huge!! After golf we went to Buffalo Wild Wings and had a great dinner. Sunday we ran some more errands and cleaned and organized the apartment, and for dinner I made some dee-lish steak and shrimp fajitas with lime-silantro sour cream and refried beans!

Of course had to enjoy a Corona with it :)

I cooked a stuffed squash last night for dinner - take a look!

chopping up a pepper









Finished product! Stuffed with sauteed peppers, herbs, and cheese

We have been wanting to take a trip to Chicago ever since we moved up to Michigan and since we both have Labor day off it seemed that this weekend was as good a chance as any. We are going to stay Saturday and Sunday night and we're really looking forward to it. Everyone here has such great things to say about Chicago and have had a lot of recommendations about what to do and see. We did already get tickets to see Second City, a famous comedy group in Chicago that is known for producing Saturday Night Live cast members. Stay tuned for Chicago pictures next week!