On Changing Seasons

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Summer, for us, has been a season of stay.

Stay in Michigan. Stay by the beach. Stay in our new state, our new house, our new everything. It has been a season of exploring this amazing hidden gem that is West-and-Northern Michigan, and the unreal, crispy clear water and white sand beaches it holds.

It. has. been. insane. <--in a goooooood way. I have become accustomed to gorgeous vistas, hot dune climbs, and the wavering bumps of riding in a boat. I've had a permanently packed beach bag for three months, and yeah, I've actually used it, sometimes many times in a week.

Can you blame me?

But, that season of sunny relaxation is waning, giving way to something also great but entirely different. Next up is fall (duh) and lades and gentleman of the jury, it is already here.



Fall is shaping up to be a season of go. Go to weddings. Jetset to Florida, Atlanta, Boston, and so on. Go tour wineries up north, go to the Florida keys, go to Chicago. Go, go, go.



And I'm okay with it. The leisurely summer has been a blast, but I am a fast paced girl, and I am more than ready to see what kind of crazy productivity this "go" pace brings with it.

Have some suggestions on fall "go" activities for me? Leave them in the comments below :)

Cheers to Fall!

WHAT'S ON YOUR DOCKET THIS SEASON?

• What are your favorite fall activities?
• Any locations you like to visit in the fall?
• What fall foods are you most exited to make?

P.S. Like those pics? Follow me on instagram!

A Superbly Parental Weekend

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This weekend, my parents came to visit. We toured around and showed them the ins and outs of our new city, and many drinks were had.

There was also pizza and filet mignon.

On Friday, my parents arrived just before dinner. My dad had a hankering for both pizza and beer, so thankfully, there are a few breweries in Grand Rapids that specialize in pizza.

One of these beers was called "Lil Sebastian" which, if you watch Parks and Rec, is amazing.

We ended up heading over to Harmony Brewing Company. We were seated immediately, and we proceeded to have a delicious meal.

They have some really delicious pizza combinations (sea salt and cracked pepper tossed arugula with feta and slices of thick prosciutto? Count me in!), but I did feel like their pizzas were slightly undercooked. Everything else was perfect, so I think it can be remedied by just asking them to leave them in an extra minute or two until they're crispy.

Afterward, we headed back home and watched our wedding video (we finally have it!).

The next morning, we started with a yummy brunch at Terra. As usual, everything was amazing. This is fast becoming a favorite brunch spot, regardless of city.

We went back to the house and gathered our things to drive to Holland for a beach and boating day. The weather looked great, so we grabbed our swim suits and set out.

By the time we got to Holland, the weather was still decent, but it slowly cooled down so that it was comfortable but not quite perfect for sunning. Darn you, June in the Midwest! We bundled up and took a cruise on the boat with my in-laws and sister in law.

Afterward, we all banded together to prepare a feast for 10. We made steaks, a big salad, and a delicious veggie dish that reminded me of a cheesy Ratatouille.

We drove home late that night and went straight to bed.

Sunday morning, we headed over to Cherie Inn, which is one of my new favorite breakfast places, too. It is a bit understated, which is what I like about it. The exterior and interior are both simple and somewhat traditional, but then the menu blows your mind with its interesting combinations, and the food is delicious.

Afterward, we drove around the city a bit to show my parents around. We drove to the east side and went to Reed's Lake to show my parents how easy it was to get from our city-living to some good old lake life.

Once my parents left in the afternoon, my husband reminded me that the US was playing in the World Cup. We decided not to get cable (we have done this in every place we have lived together so far), so we would need to head to a pub for dinner, beer, and soccer.

I donned my USA gear and we headed to The Green Well, where we found seats at the bar and had beer, dinner, and 95 seriously nailbiting minutes.

And that, my friends, is a wrap for the weekend! We're gearing up for another fabulous weekend with my cousin (the mixologist queen) who is coming to visit with her main squeeze!

WHAT ABOUT YOU?

• Did you watch the game?
• What's so great about your favorite breakfast joint?

Tulip Time Weekend

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First things first. The beauty of snapchat is that I can do things like this and not be completely hated by everyone I know:

I made my way to the deck on Thursday and spent some time working out there with the dog. It has turned into a habit. Basically, any time it looks reasonable out there, I drag my computer out and throw on my visor (lame looking but saves my eyes from wrinkles when I work in the sun). And it. Is. Glorious.

This past week has been Tulip Time in my husband's hometown of Holland, Michigan. It's a week long celebration of all things Dutch, and the schedule is packed full with dancing, crafts, and history.

Oh, and lots of parades, rides, and carnival food.

On Saturday, I begged my husband to take me to the parade. I guess the regulars around here are over it, but I was not going to miss going to Tulip Time the one year I am actually living here. So, sir.

The parade was awesome, and we decided to walk against the grain so we could see it all in less time (typical). There were tons of marching bands, which my husband is fascinated by and even knows a lot of the music to. There were also a lot of people in Dutch costumes (see the people in the parade above).

After about an hour of parade watching, we were ready for a cocktail (this parade is in the afternoon, not morning). We went into a restaurant off of the main strip that has delicious cocktails. Like, they have a whole menu just for martinis. I had this peach drink which consisted of peach vodka, whipped cream vodka, and mango puree. It was naturally sweet and delicious!

After cocktail time, we stopped in a nearby store because my husband suddenly wanted to buy a skateboard. We spent almost an hour in that shop, and then headed outside to the carnival food. My husband and his brother both bought "Elephant Ears," which are apparently kind of like a huge, fried pastry the size of a personal pizza. It was covered in sugar and cinnamon.

My thoughts? It was tasty enough for one bite, but I wasn't in love with it. There must be a major nostalgia component to everyone who loves them. 

That night, after walking around all afternoon, we hung out back at the house... and we were even more active. Remember how I mentioned my husband wanted a skateboard? Yeah, well I tried it, and let's just say I'm not gonna quit my day job.

On Sunday, we started the day with church. Afterward, it was still beautiful outside, so my husband and I sat out on the deck for a bit with the dog. 

Once we'd had enough sun and heat, we went on a walk in the nearby forest preserve and got some steps in. 

While we were on our walk, we came up with a plan for the night. We drove up Lake Shore Drive to Grand Haven and went to a seafood restaurant called Grand. It is built inside of an old theater, and they did a great job renovating it so that it still has the same old school charm.

I had a delicious martini that was extremely strong (whoops) and my husband drank beer. He got fish and chips, while I got a huge chopped salad.

Once we got home, I was ready to hit the hay. A combination of an active weekend, in the sun, and a boozy cocktail or two was enough to put me into sleep mode.

Next weekend, we will be packing to get ready to move into a new house. So, cheers to a fun weekend in the sun with a dark weekend in boxes on the horizon!

WHAT ABOUT YOU?

• Are you taking advantage of the nice spring weather?
• What's your favorite go-to cocktail?

Finally A Weekend At Home

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It has been quite a while since my husband and I had a relaxing weekend to ourselves at home. For the last few weeks, we have been all over the place - from a long weekend in Chicago to a ski weekend at Boyne to a long weekend in Naples - and we are off again this weekend, to pay Detroit and our front row Pistons tickets a visit.

Traveling is a blast. But being home is, too. I tend to underrate the value of relaxation. [And having the time to actually put up some proper, recipe including blog posts will be nice...]

"It's hard to save bacon."

We kicked off the weekend with some seriously happy hearts, because we somehow managed to not eat all the bacon I made for lunch on Friday. If you have ever made a huge pan of bacon with your s/o and tried to not eat it all, you might know that it is a feat, indeed. We have now coined a catch phrase to reference things that are so awesome they are hard to let go of: "It's hard to save bacon."

For example...

Person A - Man, I don't want this trip to end!

Person B - It's hard to save bacon...

Anyway... we ended Friday night with the ever relaxing "watch a movie" ritual. We rented Gravity, which we still had not seen, and I thought it was... entertaining. I kept cheering for Shondra Bullet. Because that's how John Travolta would say her name. It's the little things...

Saturday, we hit the gym nice and early and stopped for a relaxing brunch at DeBoer's afterward. There was no changing in between, so I ate brunch as Workout Barbie.

So that's what my feet look like out of boots! 

We headed home, showered, and got ready to head to Grand Rapids. We are looking at real estate all over the place, and we wanted to check out a few places there. We didn't love anything we saw, but there are still a few contenders. Most of all, I was just thrilled to be leaving the house in shoes other than boots... thank you, Spring! Please stay.

Hey there handsome

After our appointments, we drove around Grand Rapids for a while and eventually stopped at Downtown Market. Our local meat shop recommended that we stop there, so I had already scoped it out online and was prepared to drop some serious cash on organic and grass fed ingredients.

Get in my belly

I was pretty impressed with some of the products, like this Jalapeno & Kaffir Lime Raspberry Preserves. I am currently abstaining from added sugar and any kind of bread I could even put this on, so I did not make a purchase... but if I were not under those rules, I would have grabbed it without hesitation.

Would it offend you if I called you easy?

There is also a stall that has a lot of pre-made, ready-to-cook meals. It's kind of a neat concept, that you could go there, browse their options, and grab something that you can just pop into the oven to cook. No cutting, no making sauce, no mess to clean up. 

Spices from the Spice Merchants

Another of my favorite stalls was spice merchants. I grabbed some Saugatuck Steak Rub (for the center cut sirloin we bought), as well as some caribbean jerk (for shrimp!).

Gross to me, amaze to my dad.

Also featured: An oyster bar. Dad, you would be loving this place...

On our way out of the market, we each got a smoothie from the juice station, and we drove back home to - you guessed it - relax for a while. We caught up on Modern Family and eventually decided to venture back into the world in favor of an arcade.

The couple that shoots pirates together... ugh, what rhymes with pirates?!

We played a few games at the arcade, which were really a lot more fun than I imagined. But, my favorite part of the night? 

The only picture I snapped during laser tag that actually turned out.

LASER TAG!!!!!! I have not been in ages, and I forgot how fun it is. It is also a little bit of a workout if you get into it - between sprinting, ducking, squatting, and such. It was a great 30 minutes and I am already begging my husband to take me back.

Sunday morning, we slept in and eventually got up to make breakfast. We barely made it to church, and then stopped at the grocery on the way home.

Looks gross, tastes wonderful

I relaxed in a hot tub for quite a while and consumed a peanut butter and jelly smoothie (protein powder, coconut milk, frozen raspberries, pb2, 1/3 frozen banana, a few drops of liquid stevia). I added a handful of spinach, which accounts for the brownish flavor above. 

And then some detox water (cucumber, mint, lemon)...

And we eventually got it together enough to make dinner. Center cut sirloin with avocado, jalapeno, and garlic chutney, and a side of coconut oil sauteed zucchini, yellow squash, and onions.

You're tasty and I love you

Overall, it was a good and relaxing weekend (and perhaps the last one we'll have for a while). I woke up this morning feeling extremely rested, and even opted to turn a morning walk into a sprint session with the pup.

WHAT ABOUT YOU?

• How do you relax? 
• What is your favorite way to spend a weekend?

Hurrs Cut & Life Lately

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I am awful about hair cuts. I have been known to go for over a year without one, because I just never want to spend the time or money on it. I have typically worn my hair long, way long, like so long that I swear it hardly matters how often I get it cut because there is no 'style' to uphold:

I typically don't do much to it. I am a big proponent of letting hair air-dry (no, it's not really an advocacy thing, I'm just lazy). Sure, I occasionally blow it dry or straighten it, but not much. That said, the intense cold this winter has caused me to do a lot more blow drying than normal (because who wants to go outside with wet hair in a polar vortex?!).

This means I damaged my hair a bit more than usual. When I started noticing split ends, I knew it was time for the hair doctor.

What on earth is my left hand doing?

I am typically the kind of person that just goes in and asks for a trim, but I figured that it was time to change it up a little, so I brought in this picture and asked for a shorter cut.

I love you Jalba.

The locks went flying and I emerged a shorter-haired woman! I can still get my hair up into a pony tail (barely), which was one of my hard requirements. Can't be baking and working with loose hair, y'know?

In other news, my life lately is a combination of totally lazy and not-so-lazy. 

Lazy? Who cares if you have a chic hair cut when you spend all day in Lululemon and Ellie? Seriously, I must always feel like I am going to the gym. The mere thought of putting jeans on is not interesting to me.

Not lazy? I've been whipping up this amazing lunch for myself pretty frequently lately. Cooked tiny shrimp, diced onion, avocado, feta, and tomato, with a dressing of olive oil, lemon, and pepper. Okay, to be honest, this is still kind of a lazy thing since my shrimp is already cooked and it takes me five minutes to do...

Lazy? Scraping the sludge off of my car with a super old Cosmo magazine found in my trunk instead of asking my husband where the ice scraper is. I am clearly a class act.

Not so lazy? Heading to a coffee shop to force myself to get some solid editing done. I forgot how nice it was to work at a coffee shop with a freshly prepared latte. Nespresso is awesome, but there is something about a coffee shop latte that boosts the experience for me.

WHAT ABOUT YOU?

• How often do you cut your hair?
• What are your lazy moments?
• Do you ever work in coffee shops, etc?

Skip Days and Guilty Pleasures

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Sometimes, I reward hard work with a workout skip day. Last week was pretty work-intensive for both my husband and me, so let's just say there was more than one skip day that occurred once the weekend rolled around...

On Friday, I worked all day and learned that I apparently require many beverages to function normally. That would be Acai Mate tea, some Coconut LaCroix, and some Mio LaCroix. Once dinnertime rolled around, we decided to wait a little later until my MIL came in on a train at 10ish, and we picked her up before heading over to New Holland Brewery. There was a band there that even had string instruments and I was LOVING it, but apparently this is pretty commonplace in West Michigan. I'll take it!

I had chili, which was fine, but the real standout was this brown ale I tried. Just for kicks, check out the first specialty beer on the list below...

I was definitely not up to try an 11.5% a.b.v. beer at the time, but I am trying to convince my husband to go back so I can try that Smaug's Breath. Anyone else intrigued by this?

Saturday morning, my husband and I headed to the gym for a weights workout together. We were extremely sore and exhausted afterward, but forced ourselves to run some errands before finally getting home to relax. 

We picked up supplies and later cooked up a feast to eat with my brother in law and his fiance. Flank steak, hashed sweet potatoes and potatoes, and a big ole salad, complete with some Puydeval. 

Sunday morning, we tried a new church and then came home to make a huge brunch for ourselves, which included egg sammys, bacon, and egg tortillas. We did a bit of work and then got ready to head to Grand Rapids for a few hours and to see The Wolf of Wall Street.

A note about this movie: I did not love it. I can't tell you how many people are raving about it, but it was just not my jam. It was kind of depressing, not inspiring at all, and seemed like they were just trying to re-create the movie Blow.

Anyway, after getting out of the movie, we planned to make a nice dinner, so we stopped at the store for a case of beer because my husband was craving it to accompany the chicken dinner I planned. Laughable is that liquor is locked up in Western Michigan on Sundays. Good thing the beer was available!

Naturally, when we got home, I realized I had forgotten to thaw the chicken. So, I went to plan B and made cheese and turkey pepperoni quesadillas. 

Monday morning, I treated myself to a guilty pleasure rental and watched the second Percy Jackson movie on my iPad while I ran sub 8 miles. It was a much needed workout, and I love Percy, so it was a great way to start the day. I made myself a huge scrambler bowl with spinach, kale, onions, mushrooms, and turkeyroni, and then got to work once I refueled.

Later on, we went out to dinner in Saugatuck at Phil's and I had a very, very, very very very buttery Mahi Mahi dish. It was delicious.

Favorite guilty pleasure movie or TV show? I love me some Percy Jackson, and am also into watching Charmed and Alias while working out. Thank you, Netflix...

Favorite thing to throw into scrambled eggs? A combo of onions, mushrooms, and some kind of greens, all sauteed in oil before I throw the eggs in. Gets me every time!

Frozen Lake and Thai Food - 6 Things in 6 Days

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We're six days into 2014, and I've got six things I'm loving about life so far.

(1) Brunch. Did I mention it is my favorite meal of the day (like 1000 times)? I have tried a lot of the staple breakfast nooks in Holland, but I am sure there are many more for me to try.

P.S. Brunch staple? Lipstick on a white mug. I may not always have time to get ready for breakfast, but I personally am convinced there is no excuse for a lack of lipstick. ;-)

(2) Frozen lake. I am amazed by how pretty it is to look out on the frozen and snow-covered lake. This lake is kind of a bay area off of Lake Michigan, and Holland is sandwiched around both of them. Despite having Lake Michigan water, it is just small enough to freeze over. I watched a coyote (I think?) prance its way across the lake yesterday, so I'm going to state that it's entirely frozen with certainty.

(3) Overload of cuteness. My dog naps. Like all day. The most pampered of them all...

(4) Snow. Holy Snowpocalypse, is it really coming down. I know this is happening everywhere, but I still can't get over it. I have that excited feeling of "Maybe we'll get a snowday!"

Yeah. Right. Ain't no snowdays in online marketing...

(5) Fire. Likely as a consequence of (4) Snow.  When it's cold outside, is there anything better?

(6) New restaurants. This is thai food, which my husband randomly suggested. It had been a year probably since my last thai adventure, and I have no good excuse for having waited. I am a sucker for curry dishes, but I am trying to reign myself in after a laundry list of holiday indulgences, so I went with some lighter fare (Pad Pak) and split chicken satay with my Mister.

WHAT ABOUT YOU?

• What is your food of choice at thai restaurants? I am looking for some new options!
• Do you live somewhere that is being hit by this snow storm? How much have you gotten?