"Real" Food

Most mornings for breakfast I open a package that has two parts: one part has about a half cup of cottage cheese, and the other has about a tablespoon of jelly. Ultimately the two of those get mixed together causing a party in my mouth like none other.

One thing that stands out to me every time I look at the packaging however, is the label - which proudly reads, "Made with REAL California milk!" It always makes me wonder what they're implying. Is it that the milk is from California that they're bragging about, or the fact it's real milk? Methinks it's the real milk part, which makes me worry.

On top of that, I was eating a bag of chips recently and saw on the bag, "Made with real cheese flavoring!" Not even real cheese!? Just cheese-flavoring!? And what's the difference between real cheese flavoring and fake cheese flavoring? Never mind - don't tell me!

Considering these (and other) labels, I'm thinking that this is what we have to look forward to in the not-too-distant future:

Labels like this

Is this the future? Oh wait, I just remembered Dippin' Dots is the ice cream/food of the future*. I'm sure that's 100% natural so we're good. No worries.

*I once asked someone in Australia if Dippin' Dots really is the ice cream of the future and he said no. Busted.

Wednesday Thoughts

On Saturday morning, my good friend Christi came to town for a visit! I love when friends visit! And I hadn't seen Christi since our whirlwind Chicago adventure two years ago so I was excited to have some adventures with her!

We started by driving up to my favorite place - any guesses??

 

If you guessed Ludington, you were right. If you didn't guess Ludington, this must be your first day reading this blog.

We hiked, went on a boat ride, had a campfire, ate ice cream, kayaked, and shopped.

It was incredibly windy our last full day there, and the waves in Lake Michigan were awesome. So was my hair....

After a couple of fun-filled days in Ludington, we drove back across the state and crossed off the one thing on Christi's must-do list: Middle Eastern food! We went to Ollie's in Dearborn, which has never disappointed me, and which is one of Christi's favorite places as well. You guys, I'm still day dreaming about this plate of food, which I came nowhere near finishing, but absolutely would have if I had three stomachs:

Did I mention the warm basket of pita bread and the plate of hummus? Oh my goodness, get in my bellay! (I've been staring at this picture a little too long...)

After gorging ourselves at Ollies, we went to the Tigers game.Christi is a huge Tigers fan and one time even flew all the way from Utah to go to Opening Day with me!

The next day we went to lunch at an Ann Abor classic: Zingerman's. Zingerman's is the best deli in the area. The sandwich menu should be required reading at all the local universities. It was so hard to choose what to order! I finally landed on an Amish chicken and cucumber sandwich which I ate half of then and half of last night. Holy smokes it was good. But then again, I like food. If you don't like food, you won't like Zingerman's.

Lunch crowd

nomnomnomnomnom

Last night I drove Christi to the airport and now today it's back to reality. Sigh. It was a fun adventure.

The leaves are starting to change.... I notice that with mixed emotion. Summer is coming to a close but it's not over yet. There's still time for more fun. But the red and orange leaves are beautiful and fall will be fun. Cider mills, pumpkins, back-to-school (even more fun since I'm not in school!!), holidays, etc... No need to despair over summer ending, right....? Right.

Happy Wednesday!

Benoit

A good friend of mine has been in town for the last few days and we've had tons of fun. Last night we did one of our favorite things: went to a Tigers game! Christi bought our tickets a few weeks before and we were pretty close to where the pitchers warm up. Or rather, where they wait and see if they need to warm up. The one who did the most hanging out and waiting last night was Benoit.

When I think of Benoit, I think of one thing: the bandage. If you are a Tigers fan, you'll know what I'm talking about - two years ago, Benoit was pitching against the Yankees with a huge bandage on his face. The Yankees coach determined it was distracting to the hitters, so he was asked to take it off.

Is this distracting?

I don't think so!

I won't show you the "after" picture because it was pretty nasty. But it was something like this:

It was so good that at the time, I wanted to be him for Halloween. My plan was to wear a Tigers jersey, a baseball cap, and a huge bandage. I didn't go through with it though because I wasn't sure how many people would understand it. Plus I didn't have a jersey. Or a hat. Or a bandage.

But I digress. I thought about all of this last night as I watched him warm up. And by warm up, I mean scan the crowd and wave at kids who shouted his name and basically lounge about. I think he knew I was taking his picture here:

He's just not the same without the bandage, but he's still pretty good.

Wednesday Thoughts

Yesterday I helped my sister move a gigantic desk out of her bedroom and down the stairs. I should mention here that the desk probably weighs about 1,000 lbs. Remember that scene in Friends where they're trying to move a couch, and Ross keeps saying "PIVOT!"? That was us. We were less than effective in our efforts. When the desk was finally on the curb, I told my sister I'd make a sign to hang on it:

No one has taken it yet. My mom suggested she post it to Clarkslist. Clarkslist. (Sorry mom, but that was just too good not to share.)

In other thoughts, I saw this online earlier and it made me laugh. Scratch that, it makes me laugh. Every time I look at it. So I thought I'd have to share it with you guys:

And if it was on the internet, it's gotta be true. There's really no reason to doubt that someone would take their cat on an inner tube.

Oh, great news by the way! I recently discovered that every single season of Family Ties is available on Hulu plus. I'm pretty excited about this. I'm making my way through season one pretty quickly. We can all agree that the Jennifer episodes are super boring, right? Sorry Jennifer, but really. Alex is the best with his young Republican, Reagan loving/welfare hating. Hilarious stuff. I mean, I couldn't agree with him less, but he's still my favorite character on the show. Looks like I'll be pretty busy working my way through the series for awhile so if I don't return your phone calls, I'm sure you'll understand.

Didn't they get a little brother at some point?

Happy Wednesday!

What I've been up to lately

I've been pretty busy lately, but I don't want to have to rename this blog "Wednesday Thoughts" (since that's basically all I've posting lately), so I thought I better start posting more!

Here are some of the things I've been up to lately:

I saw a frog. I was hopping on my bike last night to ride home from a visit to my grandma's when I saw it. I gasped. It froze. We both saw each other but neither of us knew what to do. It's not often I see frogs so I didn't want to waste the opportunity. What should I do? Pick it up? Ask it some questions? Pet it? Ultimately I landed on saying, "hi froggy," taking a picture of it, then getting on my bike and riding off. I panicked!!

I had an aunt date with one of my nephews. We went bowling, went out to ice cream, and went to Greenfield Village, among other things. We packed a lot into a 24 hour period! My nephew, who is seven, is really amusing. Here's one of our conversations:

Him: "My flag football teacher was the best teacher ever."
Me: "What is his name?"
Him, thinking...."I can't remember but I know it begins with 'Mr.'"

Here's another:

Me: "What's your favorite animal?"
Him: "A king cobra. It can kill a whole elephant."
Me: "What's your other favorite animal?"
Him: "A tiny bug that is soooo small but it can kill an elephant."
Me: "So you only like animals that can kill elephants."
Him: "Yes."

I visited my grandma. I visit her every week of course, though I haven't written about her much lately. She still thinks she's going to die soon (and by "thinks" I mean "hopes") but she's still cheerful overall and really funny. She has no idea why I'm not married yet but thinks it might be because men are idiots. She "hasn't decided yet." (Her words.) Me not being married yet is still her favorite topic of conversation, by far. But it's because she loves me so it doesn't bother me.

Grandma's apartment

I went for a hike at Bird Hills park with Dana and Blue (Dana is a human, Blue is a dog - one of the best dogs on earth, for the record). Bird Hills park is such a great place to hike. Great shade and beautiful trails. 

The second picture couldn't be less to scale. The angle makes it look like Blue is a little munchkin when in reality he's truly ginormous.

I grated up some fresh zucchini and made some to-die-for zucchini bread, if I do so say myself. The bread cannot be pictured here because it was et. Pretty quickly.

Isn't summer the best? I mean second best, since fall is the best, but still. Summer is pretty dang good.

Wednesday Thoughts

As I was out on my jog (calling it a "run" would be a bit of an exaggeration) tonight, I started thinking about how infrequently I've been blogging lately. It's not like I've turned on my blog. I have no desire to quit blogging or any such thing. I think my focus has just been elsewhere. I've been trying to get back into running and getting back into shape and it is requiring all my focus. I have signed up for something like four or five races this fall and I am NOT in running shape.

Last year I did several races and loved them. However, winter came and distractions followed and somewhere in there, I stopped running. Getting back into it has been a beast. I'm soaking my feet as I write this. Here are some pictures from last year's races:

I'm excited to get back into it. But whew! I'm feeling it.

I'm boring tonight. Here's something funny - I went to the library yesterday and looked at some beautiful photographs on display. Each one had a caption with it, explaining where the picture was taken and when and sometimes a little something extra. This one made me laugh:

Happy Wednesday!

Wednesday Thoughts

Whoops - I didn't realize it had been a whole week since I lost blogged! Here are some thoughts I've had since last week:

* I watched a scary movie last night. Although this didn't happen in the movie, I've been thinking about what I think we can all agree is the scariest idea imaginable: the idea of a hand coming out from under your bed and grabbing your ankle.

I'm an adult and all, but if I'm sleeping in another bed besides my own, I always do a quick peek under the bed. Just really quick. I mean, I know there's probably nothing under there, but what's the harm in checking?? Remember that ankle grabbing scene in the Sixth Sense!? Messed me up for life.

* Michiganders: this summer weather has been messed up, am I right? Will it ever stop raining!? I think I have a summer cold because of the constant dampness and changes in temperature. Anyone else not feeling it? If you need me, I'll be over here resisting the urge to crawl back into bed.

* I've renewed my love of fudgesicles. After trying a few different brands, I've landed on Target's Market Pantry brand. I know I know, they aren't fancy, but oh my gosh they're perfectly delicious. And fat free! Which means they're just as good for you as fruits and vegetables! You are so healthy if you eat these!

* Are you guys watching Shark Week? A few years ago I heard about a show (movie?) called Air Jaws, then there was a second one called Air Jaws II (very original). In the first one, sharks jump super high out of the water. In the second one, they actually take flight and hunt in the air (I assume). The third one will feature them growing legs. It will be called Land Jaws.

I'm rambling. It's that kind of day.

Happy Wednesday!