Isn't it cute (it says "Good Luck, Patty" for those of you with bad eyes)?! She also brought these irresistible mini cookies and ordered me not to share. So sweet! Thanks, Miss Fei :)
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
Pick Me Up
As I alluded to in my last blog (I'm a lil outta control at the moment, I know, but it's because this is all so new and exciting), today has not been the best at work. While I was working on the computer (actually working, not blogging!), one of the students who volunteered in the lab during the school year dropped by for a visit. She has been working at Mrs. Field's in the mall and she didn't know when I would be leaving for school, so she brought me this:
Countdown!
So, things have been trying (that's putting it mildly) at work for quite some time, as many of you know and today I was having kind of a bad day, so I have created a countdown of just how much longer I have to work in this place. Enjoy (it's at the bottom of the blog)!
I Love...
For those of you out there who do not enjoy following the news, lack the discipline to subscribe to the New York Times or even to scan the headlines of CNN.com, or just want another way to be informed about the world, I think you should give National Georgraphic a lookover. I randomly bought one at the grocery store a couple of months ago because I was intrigued about the cover story, "Inside Animal Minds," so I decided to buy it on a whim. Not only was the article I was initially drawn to extremely interesting, but I was also fascinated to learn about how smelters are polarizing the nation of Iceland (do any of you reading this honestly know anything about Iceland?!) and how Bhutan is slowly incorporating technology into its way of life and the social impact of this transition (to be honest, I had never heard of Bhutan before!). Not only are the articles informative and extremely interesting, but the photography- OMG (an acronym I normally disdain). I think what makes it so great (besides all the reasons I just gave) is that it brings to light regions, people, issues, etc. that do not get attention in mainstream media, as well as covering stories of which you may already be aware. Stupidly, I have been buying it off the newsstand ever since, which has got to stop (a year long subscription is only $15)! So, you should look into it, is the point!
Monday, June 2, 2008
Mama to Michigan!
I have been gearing up for my mom's visit to Ann Arbor for a couple of months now since she booked her trip way in advance. Still, I never got over being excited because 1) she's my mom and she's coming into town (hello!) and 2) I never thought she'd make it to Michigan because I complain about living in Ann Arbor so much that she wasn't exactly thrilled to hop on a plane for four and a half hours to check it out. She is on a long list of people who promise to come visit me in DC and have little (well, let's be honest, no) interest in making a trip east before then.
Things started off a little shakily, with my mom and Mark (my stepdad) not bothering to ask us for directions to Ann Arbor from the airport, getting themselves lost, and almost missing our (that is, my mom and I's) pedicure appointments. We quickly rebounded by arriving in the nick of time here. My mom said it was the best pedicure she'd ever had (it was a Mother's Day present, so hers included a peppermint wrap, paraffin, and some other bonuses as well...I couldn't afford to give myself the star treatment as well, so I went with your basic pedicure), so I considered that a success! After that, my mom and Mark met our puppy, Buttercup, for the first time, much to her excitement, before heading out to dinner and microbrews here.
I was proud of my mom and Mark for getting up relatively early to make the fairly long drive (about four hours) to Benzonia, MI near the Lake (Michigan, that is), a remote (that's polite, really) location selected because it's near a spot where the Platte River feeds into the Lake. Last year for Memorial Day weekend, Alex and I went there and it was unseasonably warm- we happily swam in the juncture where the two bodies of water meet- and it was also an ideal fishing spot for my boy! Alex and I had checked beforehand to see what the dog policy was here because we wanted to be sure we could take B-cup along, so we went to our little spot on Saturday (Mom and Mark stayed behind to take a nap)...only to find out that 1) they don't allow pets beyond a certain point- the point we were interested in going- because it is a nesting area for some bird species (if you actually clicked on the last link it specifically says that pets are allowed from the Platte River Campground to Lake Michigan- exactly where we were!) and 2) that the water was freaking cold and that only a few fish could be spotted. Oh well, Buttercup was very well-behaved while I read my book and Alex found out that he couldn't fish there.
We got back to the hotel, only to discover that Mark was intent on watching the first game of the Stanley Cup Final, thus thwarting my plans of watching Indiana Jones at this drive-in movie theatre (although, to be fair, I highly doubt my mom told him I had wanted to do that...and I seemed to be the only one intent on making this a reality).
The weather in the month of May had been pretty lame, with temperatures in the fifties for a shocking amount of time, but a reprieve was rumored to be on its way: the forecast was in the seventies, with mostly clear skies for the weekend. Well, as usual, the meteorologists in the Detroit area managed to keep their jobs despite being completely wrong. As we finally ventured out to the Lake, after being delayed by rain, the winds changed and dumped us again. After about five minutes on the beach. Literally. Oh, and this spot that Alex and I had been to our first summer in Michigan (the water looks like the Caribbean when the weather cooperates!) doesn't allow dogs near the sand dune we wanted to go to either. Yay. So, we cut our losses: Alex went fishing on the Betsie River and later we all had dinner and margaritas at the Roadhouse, a cute Mexican bar and grill near where we were staying.
Alex and I hoped that we would get one last shot at enjoying the Lake by stopping in Frankfort, which is known to be a bit more tourist-y than where we had been so far, on the way home, but for reasons I won't get into, we ended up driving straight back to A2. We checked out this burger joint my mom and Mark had seen on the Food Network show Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives called Krazy Jim's Blimpy Burger. It was delicious!
So, although our trip was not the beach-bumming, fishing experience Alex and I had hoped for, it was soooo great to see my Mom and find out that Buttercup + long car rides = no problem!
Things started off a little shakily, with my mom and Mark (my stepdad) not bothering to ask us for directions to Ann Arbor from the airport, getting themselves lost, and almost missing our (that is, my mom and I's) pedicure appointments. We quickly rebounded by arriving in the nick of time here. My mom said it was the best pedicure she'd ever had (it was a Mother's Day present, so hers included a peppermint wrap, paraffin, and some other bonuses as well...I couldn't afford to give myself the star treatment as well, so I went with your basic pedicure), so I considered that a success! After that, my mom and Mark met our puppy, Buttercup, for the first time, much to her excitement, before heading out to dinner and microbrews here.
I was proud of my mom and Mark for getting up relatively early to make the fairly long drive (about four hours) to Benzonia, MI near the Lake (Michigan, that is), a remote (that's polite, really) location selected because it's near a spot where the Platte River feeds into the Lake. Last year for Memorial Day weekend, Alex and I went there and it was unseasonably warm- we happily swam in the juncture where the two bodies of water meet- and it was also an ideal fishing spot for my boy! Alex and I had checked beforehand to see what the dog policy was here because we wanted to be sure we could take B-cup along, so we went to our little spot on Saturday (Mom and Mark stayed behind to take a nap)...only to find out that 1) they don't allow pets beyond a certain point- the point we were interested in going- because it is a nesting area for some bird species (if you actually clicked on the last link it specifically says that pets are allowed from the Platte River Campground to Lake Michigan- exactly where we were!) and 2) that the water was freaking cold and that only a few fish could be spotted. Oh well, Buttercup was very well-behaved while I read my book and Alex found out that he couldn't fish there.
We got back to the hotel, only to discover that Mark was intent on watching the first game of the Stanley Cup Final, thus thwarting my plans of watching Indiana Jones at this drive-in movie theatre (although, to be fair, I highly doubt my mom told him I had wanted to do that...and I seemed to be the only one intent on making this a reality).
The weather in the month of May had been pretty lame, with temperatures in the fifties for a shocking amount of time, but a reprieve was rumored to be on its way: the forecast was in the seventies, with mostly clear skies for the weekend. Well, as usual, the meteorologists in the Detroit area managed to keep their jobs despite being completely wrong. As we finally ventured out to the Lake, after being delayed by rain, the winds changed and dumped us again. After about five minutes on the beach. Literally. Oh, and this spot that Alex and I had been to our first summer in Michigan (the water looks like the Caribbean when the weather cooperates!) doesn't allow dogs near the sand dune we wanted to go to either. Yay. So, we cut our losses: Alex went fishing on the Betsie River and later we all had dinner and margaritas at the Roadhouse, a cute Mexican bar and grill near where we were staying.
Alex and I hoped that we would get one last shot at enjoying the Lake by stopping in Frankfort, which is known to be a bit more tourist-y than where we had been so far, on the way home, but for reasons I won't get into, we ended up driving straight back to A2. We checked out this burger joint my mom and Mark had seen on the Food Network show Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives called Krazy Jim's Blimpy Burger. It was delicious!
So, although our trip was not the beach-bumming, fishing experience Alex and I had hoped for, it was soooo great to see my Mom and find out that Buttercup + long car rides = no problem!
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