a guide to entertaining oneself in ann arbor loose from the zoo style

ann arbor is a quirky town.  we end up on a lot of lists like "best places to comfortably exist if you're wealthy, liberal, outdoorsy, artsy, and smart... assuming winter doesn't bother you much."

we have portals to fairy world here.  seriously.  we also have a jewish deli on so many steroids it has turned into a restaurant, cultural attraction, event service, and jason segal movie.  we have a semi-legit film festival, and other stuff i would find incredibly charming if i were a tourist instead of a local.

though i can't say i'll miss LIVING in this city when i leave (what can i say?  i like open spaces and parking places), i know the minute i leave i'll be missing ann arbor itself very much.  yet for how many lists we end up upon and for how many gimmicks we have to earn us mild amounts of street cred on the travel channel, the best thing about ann arbor, in my opinion is the way it is a completely customizable town.  no two people are going to live it and love it here the same way.  so if you're thinking of spending a day in my city, here is MY list of local gold:

bab's underground lounge

bab's is a sneaky bar, with a missable sign, tucked away beneath a mixed use building on ashley street.  they specialize in martinis, scotch and champagne, but  the boys tend to like their bourbon and beer special (yes that's literally a shot of bourbon with any bottled beer).  it's obscure enough for elbow room and reasonable conversation volume, but fun enough for crowds to gather at hot times.  bab's is a dive bar with class, exceptional wait staff and more reasonable prices than much of main street.

the earle

some people criticize the earle for failing to be properly updated over the years.  but in my opinion, if it isn't broken don't fix it.  the earle has phenomenal food and it is renowned for its wine selection.  a door made of corks, live jazz after eight, and unbeatable veal?  it's reliably awesome for the same price as places that are gourmet touch and go.

barton nature area & the huron river

i'll admit, the townhouse my sister and i shared before we both moved was not entirely ideal.  the neighbor lady wanted to barbecue us breakfast at 2 am, and the road between us and town was closed for construction 80% of the time we lived there, but if we hadn't been out on the west side of town i never would have discovered on of my favorite places in town.  barton nature area is full of adventures waiting to be found.  there is access to the railroad tracks, and innumerable private places to sit by the river.  as folks who grew up less than an hour from lake michigan, steve and i became pretty attached to the little bit of water we've been able to play in here.  inner-tube floats down the lazy river were easily the highlight of our summer last year.

the law quad

the fact that steve and i got engaged in the law quad is icing on the beautiful gothic cake.  the law quad was my favorite part of ann arbor long before i ever lived here.  i used to sit in the sequestered courtyard and write when i was still a teenager and you'll be hard pressed to find a prettier combo of natural and man made beauty anywhere nearby.

the blind pig
popularly whispered about as kurt cobain's favorite music venue on the planet, i've yet to go to this hole in the wall and not have the night of my life.  the blind pig really isn't much to look at; a bar that only takes cash, a dirty room with some beams and a stage?  but names bigger than the venue play there all the time and it's rare that a ticket will run you more than $20.  the blind pig is like a private party in a friend of a friend's basement.  and the free popcorn doesn't hurt either.

savas
savas took the millennial obsession with brunch and turned it into a delicious restaurant.  it's a place that has an air of everyday decadence.  their smoked gouda mac and cheese and sweet potato fries are almost as spectacular as their fish tacos and nutella crepes.  at happy hour, $2 will get you a STRONG beefeater gin and tonic and since they are mere steps from my office they're awfully hard to resist.  sadly, their hiring manager has been known to make a few questionable employee choices, but i'll forgive most waiters who brings me such deliciousness.

the weekend when we dressed up the cat and i forgot to take pictures of my sister

yes, as predicted we've hit the time of year when my independent productivity goes out the window.  maybe it's the time change, maybe it's steve and i's complete cabin fever with this weather.  maybe it's the limited computer access we have away from our jobs, maybe it's this wedding planning thing.  maybe it's the fact that work has woken up a little and i finally have deadlines again.

actually it is.  it's all those things.  and those things are all legitimate, valid, and real, which means i'm not feeling guilty that my blog is quiet, my draft is dusty, and this script i'm writing is still unfinished.  the script is easy, the draft is like my child, and here i am breathing a little life back into the blog.  we're still good.  we'll still get there.

ANYWAY HERE'S A SEGUE NOW.

last weekend steve and i were hosting my sister, who was in town from san diego, visiting friends and making wedding plans (for her wedding, not ours).  we had a fantastic time, failing to document any of it (well, unless you count an awkward selfie i took with a halloween decoration at the bar).  when we weren't hosting sarah we were hosting friends, and, retrospectively, we had an alarmingly and uncommonly social weekend.  one of steve's groomsmen from the other side of the state was in town, as was a good friend of ours who was back on a visit from law school.

we suffered to watch a sporting event that ought ne'er be spoken of again.  fortunately, as obnoxious as it sounds, when people weren't turning up at our door with champagne, we were racing to brunch, making dip, and staying up late.  it's taken a few days to get ourselves and our kitchen put back together (and we've been going to bed so early you'd think we remember world war two), but as we head toward the second half of this week, we might just have a few consecutive hours to get back in a groove before we face our next couple days off.

and, as the title and image suggest, we put clothes on bert this weekend.  apparently he is a success-vacuuming cheerleader, but he's almost cute enough to help us forget our shame.

word count: 33,365

excerpts from my bucket list

1.  visit italy, peru, norway, greece, australia, and egypt.

2.  publish a novel,

3.  drink mint juleps and wear a hat at the kentucky derby.

4.  watch michigan win the rose bowl live in pasadena.

5.  buy a boat.

6.  ride in a hot air balloon.

7.  take my kids and grandkids to disneyworld.

8.  see a live performance at the paris opera house.

image

so good news and bad news: the bad news is i was still wrestling with malware last night so i didn't get a chance to upload photos from the sculpture park (it's really an outdoor art musuem, i promise you should totally come back and check out the photos because meijer gardens is so beautiful it is unreal).

but the good news is: i feel like a computer whiz kid because i eradicated the virus from my laptop all by myself!  and i have a functioning computer once more!  huzzah!

carrying on

well we are still busy apartment hunting because it sounds like someone may have snatched up our little small town pad... but we have some more options in the works and hopefully we can find our little home soon!

for now we are still enjoying all the outdoors we can get!  i also invented us a very tasty teriyaki chicken tacos recipe that i will be sharing with everyone soon!  for now here are a few more shots from our walk around the art museum on saturday!

big huge happy weekend

i can't decide what i should say about this past weekend other than:

it was AWESOME!

saturday i met up with steve's family and we all watched him graduate from college!  (ok maybe we watched thousands of little black specs graduate college, but one of them was steve!)  the weather was beautiful so we spent the afternoon picnicking at steve's house with his roommates and their families.

 sunday, after we both caught up on some much needed sleep, steve and i headed over to the west side of the state and spent a few hours enjoying the sunshine by lake michigan.

i don't think we could have asked for a better weekend!  it really feels like the end of an era, but it definitely went out with a bang and we couldn't be more excited to start the next chapter!

congratulations stevedor!  

hope everyone has a lovely week!

 

national championship

my instagram feed is blowing up maize and blue!

my friend yong has officially shared the best image so far:

go blue!

birthday / easter weekend recap

there is no better way to get through Monday than bouncing back after a weekend as good as this last one!  we had so much fun!  the night of my birthday steve took me out for tapas at one of my favorite restaurants in town and we stuffed our bellies so full of beef tournedos, risotto balls, smoked gouda mac and cheese, and sweet potato fries, we barely had room for the free chocolate mousse they gave me!  (yeah elliptical machine every day this week, obviously).  

we got a bird's eye view at dinner!

mmmmmmmmmmmm

 after dinner we watched michigan make a pretty ridiculous come back against kansas securing their place in the elite eight (and now the final four woohoo)!  with everybody's high spirits and festive generosity things got pretty outrageous in the joint birthday / afterparty bash... so let's skip to saturday...

fortunately we avoided photo evidence of friday night...
except this smashing image of me and tim.

after a hangover related debacle with our dinner reservation we finally made it out on saturday to enjoy some very tasty german food with my parents and grandmother, who all spoiled me rotten with too many birthday presents, easter candy, and carrot cake.  i'm pretty darn lucky to have such an awesome (and flexibly understanding / forgiving) family.  

speaking of awesome families, remember that gorgeous arrow bangle bracelet i posted last week from stella and dot?  well imagine my surprise when it showed up on my doorstep, with a very sweet birthday card, all compliments of steve's lovely parents!  i sure was feeling pretty darn doted upon this weekend!

thanks karpinski's!

steve and i spent easter sunday enjoying the start of some real spring weather here, and we took an easter walk through the arboretum, where we found some ducks, a plastic egg, and a real life easter bunny.

quack

hope everybody had as lovely a weekend as we did, and here's wishing everyone a belated happy easter!  best wishes on this april fool's day... and an extra happy birthday shout out to my dear friend sari, who is not only cool enough to be born on april fool's day, but is also the baddest biotch in NYC.  believe me, lady, 23 isn't too shabby.

cheers!