Midwest Life

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The August List – 2020

August was a beautiful summer month, as it always is in the Midwest and East Coast (because if you read The July List, you know that yes! we made it to upstate New York).

1) Who doesn’t like donuts? No one. A new donut shop opened in Detroit’s Jefferson Chalmers neighborhood, just minutes from Grosse Pointe, back in March.

We tried Yellow Light Donuts for the first time this summer and all the flavors are delicious (and they have coconut!!) and the drive-through service is super convenient, especially during Covid (and yes I know it is all caps, but I don’t like calling that much attention to it. Over it.). Biscuit sandwiches are yummy, too. Only drawback – get there on the early side or they may sell out.

2) I never did tell you that we got rid of our hot tub earlier this summer. I loved that hot tub, but it was time. We bought two used chaise lounge chairs from a local mom swap group to put in its place and we’ve used them more than we used the hot tub, so it was a good decision. And the patio looks much nicer, too.

3) We have cucumbers – woo-hoo! I never know what’s going to grow in our backyard. Sometimes things work, but mostly they don’t, because don’t get a whole lot of sun back there. We have a small patch of space where the sun lingers, and that’s where we planted the cucumbers. We also planted tomatoes and we do have some of those, but the fruit has been on the vine for week and weeks and they are all still green.

4) It is dahlia season and the few plants that I have bring me so much joy. The first is my favorite Cafe au Lait and the second and third is uhhh… I think Carribean Fantasy. Can you believe that the second and third photos are the same flower!?! Dahlias seem to change every day, which is one of the reasons why they are so amazing.

5) I read two good books this month. The first, “Still Life” by Louise Penny, was a recommendation from a college friend. His recommendation was actually for her latest book in the Gamache detective series, based in Quebec (Mom – you might actually like this one, it is a murder mystery, yes, but it is “light” like the PBS Mystery shows you used to watch) and when I looked it up, I saw that the book was part of a prolific series. I just put the second one on hold at the library.

The next title is “The Hypnotist’s Love Story” by Liane Moriarty. I love her writing because it is easy and entertaining like beach read, yet is so much deeper. Featuring a hopelessly romantic hypnotist, a ho-hum boyfriend and an obsessed stalker, this book is a page-turner.

6) I have three Podcast recommendations. The first, Undercover, has seven seasons so far. I’ve listened to three and am halfway through season four. The first season gives an inside look on the cult Nxivm (pronounced Nexium). Intriguing. Season two discusses an unsolved case of an airplane bomb that exploded in 1965. Season three is about a series of murders that rocked Toronto’s gay community in the 1970s, with a bonus episode on The Justice Project here in Detroit, and season four is about a nearly-homeless “cat lady” who mysteriously disappeared.

The second podcast, Nice White Parents, is a series about “building a better school system, and what gets in the way.”

The third is Intrigue, Season One (only because that’s the only season I’ve listened to so far) “Murder in the Lucky Holiday Hotel,” about “death, sex and elite politics in China.”

7) I completed two puzzles this month. I would have done more if not for our 1.5-week road trip. But they each had one missing piece which is soooooooo unsatisfying! The first was a brand new puzzle and I swear I didn’t lose the piece, it was not in the box and I didn’t vacuum it up! URGH.

The second one I brought back from my Dad’s. It also had a missing piece, which was surprising, because usually he labels the box with “missing piece!” if that’s the case. If you wondered where I got my puzzle penchant from, when we arrived at my Dad’s, he had three large boxes filled with 30+ puzzles, all of which they were going to donate after I looked through and decided which ones I wanted to keep.

I pretended like I didn’t want them all and ended up with eight. Or nine. I have to say that this particular one (second pic) was very challenging, as up to this point, I have been used to puzzle pieces that are relatively similar in that they are straight-ish and feature one of five different kinds of pieces or so. This one had the most random shapes and sizes of pieces and it was hard to get into my auto-pilot puzzle zone.

8) Speaking of puzzles, the window in this second photo reminds me of a puzzle.

A I stated last month, we quarantined for two weeks before our road trip to upstate New York, ensuring we were safe to be around my Dad and his wife, Lyn. It’s a truly magical place. A simple cottage on a simple lake, but a beautiful refuge just the same. I didn’t relax nearly enough as I’d hoped or planned, finally allowing myself to ignore texts and emails on the last three days, but it was still a great time of winding down and letting go.

9) I captured some of my favorite cabin details.

10) The girls swam and played vintage board games (at least for a few minutes before they started making up their own questions and rules) and learned how to shoot a bb gun, and we ate well and fished (although we didn’t eat the fish we caught – the were all too small) and drank wine and tequila (me) and bourbon (him).

11) For the soon-to-be (school in Michigan starts after Labor Day) 6th grader’s summer social studies project, we visited Sackett’s Harbor (Google says Sacket’s, but it also says Sackett’s was a previous spelling and that’s the way I know it), which was part of the War of 1812.

We also visited the military cemetery there and saw that most of the headstones were adorned with a coin or coins. None of us (including my cousin-in-law, Jim, retired US Army Major General, who accompanied us on our battleground tour that day) knew exactly what that meant or stood for and I have yet to look it up. He did tell us that all headstones face East, which we didn’t know.

12) Remember my amazing hair from June? I posted a selfie and everything. Well, the summer sun turned my highlights orange and I bought some semi-permanent color from RiteAid and dyed it black (actually a dark, dark super dark brown, my natural color) and two months later it’s still black, even though the box promised it would only last 28 days. OH WELL. So I guess I have black hair now. 2020 keeps on giving.

I wish I had some revelation to share with you that came to me while I was living in the woods. I worry that my kids have turned into dummies over the summer with so much screen time and very little social time and I worry that one of us or someone we love will get Covid in a really bad way and I worry that I worked way too much this summer and wasn’t there for anyone, including myself.

I’m not in the depths of dispair, as Anne of Green Gables liked to say, but I’m tired – as in literally, physically and mentally tired – of being in a state of limbo always and not only that, a state of uncertain limbo.

But we have at least one more month of beautiful weather to enjoy. We are healthy, the kids seem… normal for the most part at least for now, my friends continue to be there for me, my extended family is safe and really what more can one ask for.

Be well, my friends. Wishing you a wonderful September!

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The February List – 2019

I am beyond. Just beyond. I have no brain capacity during a week when I need it most. Deadline week. Always a killer. So I do what one can only do in these situations. Procrastinate. Which, I have to say, is not one of my weaknesses. I would rather get stuff done. And right now, I’m knocking The List off my list.

1) It’s the beginning of March in Michigan. Which means it’s 10 degrees. I also am beyond done with winter. We had another ice storm in early February and everything shut down. Again. Then temperatures dropped slightly and wind came and then you had chunks of ice falling from trees and rooftops. Gah.

 

 

2) I can pretty much gauge my life by emoji usage and this month, my most used emoji was the horror/terror emoji. So that. When I went to Google it, it’s officially called “face screaming in fear.” Pretty much.

3)  Did I ever tell you about the time my friends from Ohm Coffee Roasters sent me a Christmas gift out of the blue? We love each other, but we don’t normally exchange Christmas gifts, hence the surprise. These types of gifts given in love with no strings attached are always the best kind, no matter what they are, although in this case it was a delicious assortment of small batch roasted coffee beans. I haven’t surprised gifted very often, but when I have, it’s made me feel so happy. I would like to do more of that. Maybe you can, too.

4)  I have always loved Valentine’s Day, even when I didn’t have a Valentine. I am a sucker for true love and celebrating love in general (although make me sit through a romance movie and I am in agony), plus PINK. This Valentine’s Day was uneventful, aside from my sweet bouquet from Willa Rose Floral (thank you! And thank you, Valentine, for getting them for me!), because life and stress and whatnot, but my littlest gave me this Valentine, I mean, who needs date night when my seven-year-old lupine loves me? I’m all set.

5) Can we talk about typos for a minute? Because I always seem to have them in this blog. People actually pay me to write nice things and not make mistakes like typos. Am I apologizing? Not really. Defending myself? Not that, either. I’m simply saying I think it is ironic that as a professional writer, I can’t get it right on my own work. And also I know that you know. And now you know that I know, too.

6)  We worked on a lot of puzzles this month because winter, ice storms, etc. This one I haven’t done since my husband and I rented a place in Anderson Valley, California one weekend when I was pregnant with our first. It’s a Swiss Chateau.

This photo was taken a couple weeks ago and now it’s a lot further along, but not finished, and it will never get finished because I’m having The Garden Detroit board members over for a meeting and I need the table. I suppose I could put some people’s dinner plates on top of the puzzle but…I don’t know, that’s not super classy, no?

7)  Speaking of our first born, she turned 10 this month. She requested my coconut cupcakes (aka Ina Garten’s coconut cupcakes) with cream cheese frosting, which I gladly made. They never disappoint.

She begged for a sleepover birthday party, which I was hesitant about, then had the brilliant idea of holding it on Presidents Day weekend, seeing as everyone would be out of town. Aaaaaaand everyone was in town. We had seven girls over, plus our two. Aside from the screaming (happy girl screaming, but screaming nonetheless), all went surprisingly well.

8)  I did a craft (which may surprise some of you, but I was actually quite crafty back in the day) for the party. This project I found online where you break crayons, put them into silicone molds, bake them and voila. I read a tip about soaking the crayons in warm water to get the wrappers off and that saved me.

The girls had fun doing all the steps, and when I took the molds out of the oven, I goofed and spilled some of the hot wax (face screaming in fear emoji), but contrary to my initial reaction, the crayon hearts still came out great.

9)  Okay, let’s talk about my new La Creuset dutch oven. First of all, it’s blue. Secondly, I made beef burgundy (yes I do know it is capitalized, but I don’t want to so #notatypo) in it the other week.

Pretty much the exact same recipe I always use for the crock pot, but this time threw it in the dutch oven and oh my goodness. Picture is kinda gross, but it tasted amazing. Huge difference. All the flavors came together in a way that they just don’t in a crock pot. I still love the crock pot for the ease of  it, but whenever I make stew of any kind, I’m going to have to defer to my trusty dutch oven.

10)  We can also talk about chocolate. My new after-lunch snack at work is a Trader Joe’s chocolate peanut butter cup. It’s such a treat and I look forward to it every day.

Next, is another new-ish favorite that my friend introduced me to, are Hu bars, my favorite being cashew butter and raspberry jelly, which does not sound very good, but it is. The price of a bar has gone way up since the one store in town started carrying them, though, so they are a rare treat. I haven’t tried the cashew butter and vanilla bean and I bet I’d like that even more.

11)  I didn’t read the book group book for this month because I am just too dang busy, and also because I am enjoying my current book, “Stiletto,” the sequel to “Rook,” a light fantasy/adventure book by Daniel O’Malley. The writing is smart and fast-paced and fun, and the characters steer the book as much as the plot. You really should read the first book first.

Mom’s hibiscus

12)  I have run out of things to talk about. Not much happened this month because work kind of took over. I try to maintain gratefulness, although if you’ve run into me lately you may not have figured that. But I do give a quiet nod to all that I have. Health, family, choices. And a prayer of thanks for it all. I think you can be stressed and tired and cranky, and thankful at the same time.

March is going to be another doozy of a month, but here’s to warmer days (maybe) and fewer hours at work (possibly) and more pressing on (surely). Happy almost spring!!

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The January List – 2019

Not really starting off 2019 the way I wanted to. This is one of the latest Lists ever. I blame it on the Polar Vortex, knowing that really it’s because January is one of my busier months at work, and I flew to Hawaii for a week for my grandma’s funeral.

And now that I’ve remembered the List, I can’t concentrate on any of my other projects until I’m done writing it, and I have a freelance project due at the very least by tomorrow morning, so I need to crank this out.

1) We rang in the New Year with friends at the Dearborn Inn, as we have for the last three years. Shoutout to Emerald City Designs, who is also does the auction for the school where I work. They always do an amazing job. This year they featured centerpieces with flocked foliage, which is “in” right now, but not overly trendy.

2)  December was mostly void of snow. January it snowed and iced and everything in between. We had a total of six snow/ice/broken boiler days (school/work) this month, half of them during our Hawaii trip. The day of the ice storm, I moved two morning meetings to the afternoon because I am such a wimp driver in bad weather. But I wasn’t the only one, I mean school was cancelled.

3)  I can always tell how cold it is outside by looking at my rhododendrons. When it’s below freezing, their leaves are tiny little things, shriveled up and sickly looking. Between 30 and 40 degrees, they are slightly more open and above 50 they look healthy and happy. When it was below zero, they crumbled up into themselves to where each bunch looked like a single stick clump.

I’m very impressed with their survival skills and am hoping my other plants will hang on as well. Above pic, about 29 degrees.

break – Littlest keeps asking me when dinner is. I’m going to pause and attempt to make creamy Tuscan chicken, because I can’t stop thinking about it since we had some at a friend’s house last weekend.

back – Chicken came out good enough. Next time I need to double the sauce. I meant to take a photo, but forgot until we were cleaning up.

4)  I am so ridiculously tired. Exhausted. From the weather, work and kids. I had a coffee an hour ago and feel nothing. How am I going to make it to number 12 ?!?!? Also I have no photo to put with this number. I could take a selfie and post that, but I’m not willing to self deprecate on that level.

Instead I searched the interwebs for “tired busy mom” and give you this. Although I’m not sure why one of her hands is holding a martini, although I suppose one must make time for cocktails?

5)  My best buddy turned thirteen this month! Here he is with his new Christmas toy from Santa.

6)  Went to the new Grosse Pointe Park spot, The Charlevoix for the first time this month. They have a small menu, but everything is so good. What’s not to love about tacos and po’ boys when done right. And the drinks! They nailed the spicy margarita. Exactly how I like it. In this pic are the salt and pepper shrimp, which were super spicy and really good, and up top, the collard greens and coconut salad, which I loved.

7)  We voted in several new Board members this month at The Garden Detroit and I’m super excited about the new team. We’ve been taking turns hosting meetings and cooking for each other, which is nice. A lot of exciting things happening this year, stay tuned!

8)  Had game night with dominoes, champagne, Hummers and Georgie the French bulldog. My one girlfriend is really good about inviting people over just to hang out, something I need to get better at – the impromptu gatherings. It’s a little harder having to take the little kids into account, but still very doable. Perhaps a New Years resolution for 2019. I haven’t quite finished the mental list.

9)  So Hawaii. Once I open that whole can of worms (which, as cans of worms go, would be a very lovely can), I’m afraid I won’t be able to stop because I have SO many thoughts about it and SO many photos, I mean where do I begin?

I will say that the girls and I left on a Saturday, just as the first big snowstorm began (my husband, who drove us to the airport, had to pull over and stop on the way home to wipe the windshield because the car ran out of wiper fluid). My husband joined us the following Thursday, and we all returned on a Monday, which happened to be a snow day.

On the day of our flight home, my sister and cousins began piecing together our very large family tree.

10)  This trip was mainly about my Grandma, celebrating her life, coming together with family. But it was also about me in that I felt a shift. In a good way, I think. A shift in attitude, a shift in perspective. Something that maybe I’ll get into at some point here if I get my act together.

11)  And food. Hawaii is always about food. Have you tried opihi?

I haven’t, but I’ve had the opportunity to several times. It’s a Hawaiian delicacy that’s extremely dangerous to harvest. The opihi stick to the sides of very sharp rocks in the ocean. Apparently the guy main guy people used to buy opihi from died from harvesting opihi.

This particular batch was brought over from Hilo by one of our relatives. I just read an article that the “teeth” of the opihi may be “the strongest biological material known” to man, stronger than spider silk.

12) Number 12! I have nothing else for you. Except this photo taken the day we returned to school/work after all those snow days. OH. I do have something. My friend recently posted an article ranking all the states in terms of weather. Hawaii was number 1 and Michigan? Number 49. I don’t disagree.

Here’s the link if you want a haha. Based on the several places I have lived, it’s actually pretty spot on. THE ARTICLE

HAPPY NEW YEAR, everyone! And have a great rest of February.

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The December List – 2018

I started this post by writing 2019 in the title, then deleting it, only to write 2019 once again, before correcting it to 2018. I started writing 2019 about two months ago, actually. On checks, work documents, etc. Maybe that means my mind has been ready for 2019 or maybe it just means I’m tired. Whatever the case may be, here we are in 2019! But first, December 2018.

1)  We did not have a white Christmas, nor did we get much snow at all this month. The most snow we got this month (and it was just a dusting) was on December 30th. The girls played outside for about an hour before it all melted away.

2)  I do love the spirit of Christmastime and I love picking out our tree and decorating. We always hang up our German ornaments and my mom’s crocheted snowflakes that I hope last forever.

3)  Our family Christmas traditions are few. We always do a chocolate advent calendar, and then several years ago my Dad and his wife gifted us with a Scandinavian-looking wooden advent calendar. The intent is to put little trinkets in each drawer, but the cavity is so small and even the tiniest trinkets don’t fit (so one year I did chocolate-covered almonds, which is not exciting at all).

Last year my husband and I began the tradition of writing short notes to the girls, one girl/one note per day. Little compliments or notes of encouragement. The girls love them and it’s a good practice for us, too.

4)  I read two books this month. One was our book group pick, “The Alice Network” by Kate Quinn. I wasn’t in the mood for a historical fiction, nor was I thrilled about wanting to read another WWII book (although this one weaves back and forth between WWI and WWII), but I was pleasantly surprised to find that it was well written, interesting and intriguing. Some of the characters were loosely based on historical figures, and I didn’t know anything about the network of female spies (I do love espionage) and am curious to know more.

5)  Before I get to the other book, let’s talk about book group and the yummy new drink I learned about, the Hugo. One of our members had just gotten back from a trip to Germany and said it was served everywhere there and made it for us. It involves prosecco, sparkling water, elderflower syrup and mint. And possibly lime. It was crisp and refreshing and I like pretty much anything with prosecco in it.

Writing about prosecco made me want prosecco, so now I am sipping on champagne. Kind of puts a damper on my plans to ride the exercise bike and lift weights after the girls go to bed (which is soon).

6)  The other book I read is “Do Not Become Alarmed” by Maile Melody. It’s a suspense novel with the focus on novel. The characters are believable and her prose is simple but great – not super literary or intellectual, but it is good, thoughtful writing. I’m definitely going to borrow another one of her books really soon. Also do not read this book after watching back-to-back episodes of The Innocent Man on Netflix.

7)  I went to my first cookie exchange party. Guess which ones are mine? Hint: Not being a true Grosse Pointer, I was not aware you had to make the cookies presentable, only that you had to bring them. WAH-wah. But mine were delicious, I have to say and I ended up taking two of them back home with me because I loved them so much.

There was a killer fudge and peanut-butter cookie concoction (the ones that look like brownies) which I put in a separate container with a sticky note saying “Mom only.” I rationed it over a few days. Another bar had coconut and lots of butter and I’m sure condensed milk, and that also went into the “Mom only” container.

8)  I gifted myself two plants this month. I’d read about the online shop Bloomscape. I liked the fact that they grew their plants to maturity, have great reviews, are a small company and they fully explain how to care for your plans and encourage you to contact them with any questions (which I have, twice). I got a dracaena and a fern. Yes, you can get ferns at Home Depot, but I wanted to get one from them!

My dracaena arrived tipped and with soil everywhere (inside the crevices of the leaves), huge clues that the shippers paid little to no attention to the “this side up” sign on the box. I was worried about it and called Bloomscape and they were super apologetic and promptly offered to replace my plant if needed. So far so good, although the outer leaves are getting brown. I have such a hard time with houseplants for some reason!

9)  My friend Julia also gave me two of the sweetest plants. One is a pilea peperromiodes (at least that’s what my new plant book says, I don’t remember the name Julia said), otherwise known as the pass-it-on plant, which seems fitting.

The other is a stone succulent, again don’t know official name. It is the strangest thing. It really does look and feel like a stone. I can’t wait for it to start sprouting or blooming or whatever it is that it does.

However. My 9-year-old “accidentally” knocked it off the plant table the other day. I say accidentally because that’s what she said, although at the time she was in the middle of practicing piano and something about a shadow in the window she had to investigate and by doing so knocked over the plant, which was nowhere near the edge of the table. It looks okay. Ish. Hoping it didn’t get damaged, which I won’t know for weeks and weeks, because I’m guessing the stone plant will look like a stone even when not alive!?

10)  My sweet grandma (mom’s mom) passed at the beginning of this month. I had been going through photos of our last Hawaii trip (March) and was organizing the ones I took of her with her four great-grandkids (my kids and my sister’s kids) when I got the call.

At 95, she had lived a long, full life and was probably ready to go, and she left the world surrounded by people who loved her, so really it’s the best possible scenario, but of course any passing is a very sad occasion, and it’s difficult being away from family during this time. I am going back in mid-January for services and am looking forward to reminiscing and celebrating her life.

11)  Even though I’ve had my photography/creative website up and running for almost a year, I’ve only just officially announced it, which is scary because doing so makes it real. You can now find me at www.lanimartincreative.com and follow me on www.facebook.com/lanimartincreative (please and thank you!).

I’ve gotten a lot of bookings for family photos, so that’s the direction I’m going in terms of professional photography, but I also want to hone in on the creative side of it. Making art for art’s sake, doing what I want to do vs. what the client wants. I don’t want to lose sight of the projects that fulfill me and why I bought a fancy camera in the first place.

It’s quite exciting, though, to be getting paid for something you create. Which I have been doing already with writing, but photography is more fun and I feel like I have more of a creative license with photography.

12)  I’ve tried and tried, copied magazine cut-outs, watched YouTube videos and almost sort of got it at times, but on the last day of the month/year, I nailed the smokey eye. I’m so proud, I don’t even care that I’m posting bathroom hair turban selfie pics. I may have taken the look from glam to tranny real fast when I added false eyelashes, but hey, New Year’s Eve begs for a little over-the-top-ness, does it not?

That’s a wrap on 2018. I haven’t made any resolutions yet, but I’m going to. They are going to have to include some self care, or this mom is not going to make it through 2019. Always a balance. Between kids, family, self, work, the world. When to say yes, when to say no, when to give in, when to push back. I plan to figure some of it out!

Wishing everyone a Very Happy New Year!

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The August List – 2018

Detroit Sky

Whyyyyy!?!?! Why is summer over, why am I a week behind in writing this post, why am I so tired already after just one day back at work!

1)  That photo above was taken on my way to dinner at a friend’s house in Detroit. The sky was amazing and even though the neighborhood I was driving through was questionable, I had to stop. So I only got halfway out of the car, but still. There were so many other great shots I could have taken, each block seemed to get better and better.

Note: It is 9:50pm at night and I am hearing noises above me, which means that probably my littlest is having trouble sleeping (which makes her soooo upset), but I am choosing to ignore said noises. For now.

2)  August was a perfect summer month with lots of hot weather, swimming and flowers. Dahlias are in full force at Detroit Abloom, and though I do not get to work with them nearly as much as in past years, I at least get to see the flowers every week in my CSA bouquet.

Dahlia

3) My favorite variety is Cafe au Lait, which is so creamy and fluffy. Sometimes you get more buttery-colored blooms and other times they bloom with a hint of pink, you just never know. The tubers I planted this year are giving me both and it is so lovely. The top pic is one that was over-the-top exquisitely wonderful.

4) The Garden Detroit’s garden is very small this year, as we had to relocate from our large space. However, we still had lots of tomatoes, enough to sell several times at the Farmer’s Market. I roasted several trays, made gazpacho and ate them raw.

5) We also had some broccoli. I think this photo was actually taken in July (I try to only post photos that were taken in the month I’m writing about. OH WELL).

Photo By Metro Times

6)  I got to cross another noodle place off my list finally. Urban Ramen in downtown Detroit. I went with a couple new mom friends and one work friend, a shared interest being our love of Asian food. The place is small and it was already crowded, but we were seated quickly (at the high table) and our food came pretty quickly as well.

I was way too excited to eat the noodles, so I failed to get a photo of them, but they were delicious. This photo is of the tuna on a rice cake I believe and it looks somewhat unappetizing, but it was REALLY good. I am dying to go back. I think my kids would like it, too.

7)  We packed up the car and piled the whole family into my trusty CRV for another trip to upstate New York, where we stayed with my Dad and his wife in their cabin in the woods. Except for the mouse situation (OMG you guys) which we got under control the day we left (which translates to I had restless sleep the whole time), all went well.

It was a shorter than usual trip, as we had an event we had to get back home for, but we did get to spend some time with cousins and aunts, which fulfills me so much.

8)  One such family member was Aunt Betty, who is 94. She is amazing and I was lucky to snap this photo of her just before she got up from the couch. No matter how short my visit, I will always make time to see her. She spent many a summer housing me and my sister, cooking and cleaning for us and keeping us company.

9)  My friend Erin said the photo made her think of Gregory Crewdson (who I’d never heard of and had to look up) and that I should watch his documentary, which I borrowed from the library and loved.

The cover photo for the film isn’t my favorite and to me, doesn’t portray the body (hehe) of his work accurately. It seems morbid whereas I think his work definitely feels deeply melancholy, but not morbid. So I give you the cover photo of the film AND another shot that I like better.

10)  But back to New York. While we were there my Dad called up his half-brother (who he had never spoken to or met before!) and invited him and his wife to come over and they did. That same day. So that.

I’ll save the details for another post, but I WILL present to you my real grandfather (not one of my grandmother’s three husbands, all of whom she outlived by the way), Mark Sears, with a Guernsey cow. The plot thickens!

11)  I read two books this month. Bad Blood, a true story of the rise and fall of Theranos, a Silicon Valley startup, and its creator. Fascinating. And also The Assistants, which is kind of an empty read, but it was entertaining and cute enough for summer evenings when I wasn’t up for using too much brainpower.

Photo By DIA Founders Junior Council

12)  Two nights after we got back from New York, we attended Fash Bash 2018, a fundraiser fashion show held by the DIA (museum) and Neiman Marcus. My girlfriend oversees the fashion show part and another girlfriend was co-chairing this year and my husband’s nephew was walking the show, so we so we made sure to purchase tickets this year.

As a teenager, I used to wake up early on Saturdays (or was it Sundays? Also I lived in Hawaii at the time, so I’m thinking the show was actually on much later on the mainland) to catch Elsa Kensch’s Style show on CNN. She would showcase fashion shows and designers and I found it all so fascinating. Perhaps I should have followed my passion and gone into some sort of design field, but honestly, I don’t think I quite had the eye for it. (Although, fashion is subjective, no?)

But I digress. Watching a live fashion show was inspiring. I mean, watching beautiful people wearing beautiful clothes in a stunning environment…what’s not to love? (well, my husband could tell you, but let’s not ask him). And the people-watching was also as entertaining as the show.

That’s a wrap. Happy September! See you at the end of the month with another List.

by

The July List – 2018

I love July so much. Summer is going full force and there is still a lot of it left. Friends have you over for impromptu al fresco dinners (above), pool days turn into pool nights, kids stay up late and wake up late.

1) We celebrated the July 4th holiday with our annual barbecue at Uncle Jim’s house (I actually got in, or semi got into the pool, which happens maybe once a year, if that. Is it 90 degrees? Then no, I’m not in the pool) and by watching the Grosse Pointe Farms fireworks show with friends atop the Grosse Pointe Academy lawn.

2) I finally made it to the John K King used bookstore in downtown Detroit, a place I’d been wanting to go to since we first moved here. Plan to spend at least an hour browsing the shelves filled with over a million books, less time if you have kids in tow, which we did.

They have a huge collection of rare books, but they sadly did not have a copy of The Wonderful Flight to the Mushroom Planet, a sci-fi title that my husband and I both read as kids and have been curious to see if it’s really as good as we remember. Yes, the book is available online, but with a new, dumb cover illustration so I refuse to buy it.

3) I did pick up three books, one of which I’d been wanting – Kate Atkinson’s “When Will There Be Good News?” since I read her first two detective stories a couple years ago. She’s also the author of “Life After Life” which is a giant of a book, but goes quickly and is a must-read. I just finished “When Will There Be Good News?” last night and really enjoyed reading it. I’ve thought about it a lot since I put it down, which is always a sign of a good book. Or good anything.

4) We stopped at Lafayette Coney Island before the bookstore trip, as it was on our way and the Mister (who doesn’t like this photo because “no one puts ketchup on a coney dog” insert eye roll emoji) was hungry. He got coney dogs (obviously) and fries, and I shared an order of fries with the girls. The restaurant is right next door to American Coney Island, and Detroiters are very passionate about which restaurant they think is superior.

5)  My sister’s family of four came to visit us this month. We mostly wanted to just hang out since we usually only see each other once a year, but of course we had to do some touristy things, as they’d only been here one other time in the dead of winter.

We randomly stopped at Shake Shack for lunch and I was pleasantly surprised at how good it was. Service was fast and friendly and food was yummy and fresh. Really great for a fast food joint and I’d definitely go there again.

6) The beach area at Campus Martius was fantastic. There was music playing (DJ), foosball, a huge Jenga set, and lots of people-watching.

7) We also went to the Riverwalk, which the kids love. As we were heading back to the parking lot, we watch a group of girls take photos for a quinceanera celebration.

8) On what was possibly the hottest day of the year, we went to Belle Isle and stopped at the aquarium and conservatory (extra hot and humid, we were all dying). We had plans to go to the beach, but when we drove by there were so many people and we didn’t want to deal with the crowds or the parking.

So we decided to try the slide, which turned out to be highly entertaining, especially for me, as I was not participating, and got to watch as my brother-in-law got going a little too fast and caught air on the bumps. Hehe.

9) Why did it hail in the middle of July!? All of a sudden the clear sky turned gray and a deluge of rain came down, followed by a minute of hail. No locusts, though.

10) Have you been to Otus Supply in Ferndale? My book group gals and I Ubered there in lieu of our usually meeting and tried just about everything on the menu. All of the food was quite good, right down to the sourdoughnuts, but my margarita was too sweet. From what our server told us, they also have a great live music scene on certain days of the month.

11) We were invited by friends to a rental cottage in Lexington, Michigan, for a weekend. The drive is about one and a half hours – quick compared to the majority of getaway spots, which are 3 to 5 hours away. It was a cute little town with a handful of restaurants and shops and lots of summer cottages.

On our first night, we walked through town to the park, where a bluegrass band was playing. We dipped our feet into Lake Huron and skipped stones.

The rest of the weekend was cold, humid and rainy – not ideal – but we made the most of all the breaks in the rain by going for walks (me), or to the beach (them) which you got to by going down a steep flight of stairs, or sitting by the fire (all of us). I walked by so many wild sweetpeas, which I’d only ever seen growing on a farm, so that was exciting for me.

12) A little baby bluejay hung out in our lilac tree for three days. He was the cutest, fluffiest thing and I worried that the blackbirds were going to scare him, or that he’d fall and some creature or cat would find him, but since I didn’t see him after the third day, I’m going to assume he flew away and is somewhere in the trees, happily enjoying summer.

We’re off for what is becoming an annual trip to upstate New York, one of my most favorite places on earth. San Francisco, yes. Florence, absolutely. There are many other beautiful and exotic places, but there is something about dairy country that I can’t shake. Follow along on Instagram, or get filled in on next month’s list. Happy August!