Sweet Silver Angels

This weekend I:

-sold my car
-went antiquing
-acquired a recipe box from 1940
-baked raspberry almond bread from a Joy the Baker recipe

Plus other standard house things. It was a pretty darn good weekend, I would say. What did you do?

P.S. I baked these oatmeal blueberry applesauce muffins last week (recipe also from Joy the Baker) and they were so good, I baked them a second time with strawberries instead. Ha! I win!

Perfect Jumping Off Point

Things I want to begin doing more of:

-baking
-cooking
-gardening
-writing
-organizing
-photography

I sort of want to start a new blog to record these new ventures. What do you think? Worth it?

Goon

Last night, we watched Goon and, as far as hockey movies go, it was pretty great. A lot of blood, of course, but what else would you expect? I really like Seann William Scott's stuff lately, and I especially liked him in this movie. You should see the movie he did with John C. Reilly about grocery stores. Annnnnd... Watch Goon. As long as you don't mind copious amounts of swearing and large amounts of blood. Haha. Oh! A bonus: Liev Schrieber is in it. Yup.

Hey Mambo

This evening, CLRG (I should probably call him something else someday...) and I watched a great old movie. It was "The Catered Affair" and starred awesome people like Bette Davis, Ernest Borgnine and Debbie Reynolds. It was from 1956, I believe, and you should watch it.

Earlier today, we went adventuring with his parents. We went to a delicious Italian restaurant for lunch, visited a local chocolate/candy factory, and checked out an Italian grocery store as well as the thrift store near our house. It was a really great afternoon.

Holy goodness, I haven't written in ages.

I renewed my ancestry.com membership a couple of weeks ago and the family history research is in full swing. I am really enjoying looking back at census records to learn about my ancestors. Many of them are farmers, but I have found others that were, for example, a chairmaker and a justice of the peace. SO. COOL. I have even been able to discover information about branches of the family tree that were previously very short. I'm pretty excited. CLRG has even been researching his family also, which has been really exciting, too. I even used the census records to find out who owned our house before we did! YAY!

The Horses Are Coming

Right now, I have a sweet little cat sitting on my lap. He is being very nice and seems to be wanting to hold hands. I'm okay with this.

I had a good weekend. CLRG and I went up to his parents' house and hung out with his family on Saturday. Seeing Little Baby Duck is always so much fun. This time, we took her for ice cream (which she did not want) and then we watched her play in her little pool (which she LOVED). On Sunday, we went to lunch with RCC and then I went shopping with K in the afternoon. I had to find a dress to wear to CLRG's boss' wedding this weekend and I was successful. I'm excited to wear it.

Strawberry Bubble Gum

I know there are a lot of things about Michigan right now that aren't great. I know that, economically, it has had bad times and really bad times. But then I think about the amazing experience I had growing up in the Southwestern part of the lower peninsula and I remember that Michigan is pretty darn great.

Today, one of my coworkers said something about the joy of fresh fruit. Right away, I was thinking about the summers I spent working at the farm stand. I thought of the strawberries I ate fresh from the field, still warm from the sun. I thought of our trips down the road to the blueberry farm, tying coffee cans around our waists, and picking many pounds of berries to take home. I thought of the long drives out on the roads that passed by more vineyards, orchards, and road side stands than I can count.

Yes, Michigan is pretty awesome.

I remember being able to ride my bike all over town, visiting the library, visiting the park. I loved hanging out at that park with friends, swinging until our legs hurt (or someone broke a bone) in the dark, drinking in summer air. I remember the video scavenger hunts, the hanging out, the movie marathons. The friendships I made growing up, the amazing adventures we had, groups we were in and championships we worked our asses off for, were all so spectacular that I often can't really explain them to people who don't understand.

Michigan people know, though.

Mmmm Michigan. Pure and simple. Amazing. I love you.