great lakes. great times.

this weekend i went to visit my friend martha in detroit.  i visited her several times when she was living in oakland, and she is in new york all the time, but this was my first trip to detroit (and michigan)!  i wasn't sure what to expect from detroit, but it was pretty great.
i got in on friday night and we dropped off my stuff at her apartment, then headed out for some beers and a quick bite to eat.  it was kind of late so we didn't want a huge sit-down meal.  we ended up sitting at the bar and ordering fries, lamb perogies, and pulled pork sliders.  it was the perfect amount of food.
on saturday morning we woke up super early, laid in bed and girl talked, and then walked to breakfast at the clique restaurant. i was in the midwest so i was going to do full on grits, bacon and eggs.  and a side of pancakes.  i mean come on! the favorite was definitely the cheesy gritz--a bowl of grits with a slice of american cheese layered in.

after breakfast we did a mini walking tour and then headed over to the eastern market for groceries, then had a mid-afternoon beer at bert's.  after walking around all afternoon, we went back to martha's house and took a long nap.  then we got ready, hopped on our bikes, and headed downtown for dinner and the tigers' playoff game.  martha raved about sweetwater tavern so we headed over and ate our weight in chicken wings (and blue cheese).  the tigers won and, even though i'm not a tigers' fan, it was fun to be wrapped up in the excitement.  also...i'm a yankees fan, so it's never hard watching the red sox lose.
since saturday night's bike ride trial run turned out so well, we decided to do a mini bik tour the next day.  we biked down the dequindre cut to the riverwalk and then over to belle isle.

i noticed a beautiful conservancy and we pulled over to take a bike break and to check out the greenhouse.  i wouldn't call myself a huge nature fan, but i do love the feeling of being in a greenhouse.  my favorite room is always the one with all of the cacti.

halfway around the island i started feeling like maybe this wasn't the greatest bike i'd ever ridden in my life.  it was fine for going out on saturday night, and even for cruising over to belle isle, but the gears were messed up and my butt. was. killing. me.  we were heading over to the art institute and it's probably best that i didn't know how far it was.  martha sensed that i was about to collapse and we stopped for pizza and a beer on the way.  it helped my mental state, but NOT my butt.  the art institute was awesome--i'm a diego rivera fan and the murals there were amazing.  on our way home we stopped for one more beer.  it was just a little push to help us home...

neither of us could move very quickly by the time we got back to martha's house.  i asked her how far she thought we had biked and she casually said, "probably like 8 miles."  i don't usually bike 8 miles at a time, but i knew my legs had done more than that.  i decided to mapmyride and when i finished our little afternoon ride i discovered that we had biked 20.12 miles!  needless to say, we drove when we went out that night!
it was so great to spend a weekend with a friend in the city that they grew up in and love.  i was impressed by how bikeable detroit was and how friendly everyone was.  whenever i visit a place i think, "could i live here?" and i could definitely live in detroit (not that i'm moving). in the autumn at least...
i could DEFINITELY live there if it meant i would get to hang out with this little guy:

best day

i feel like i'm back.  friday was just one of those days where i felt great.  the week started off a little hectic--didn't know how to do new routines and seemed to forget all of the routines i've known how to do for the past ten years.  then friday morning came and i was like, "oh yeah.  i'm pretty good at this."  after the year i had last year, and the couple of not-so-great years prior to that, i realized that i think i'm finally in the right place.  it was the best day of work i've had in about three years.  i was exhausted by the end of the night but i had a friend's wedding to go to with my two former roommates.  every moment of the wedding was amazing.  it felt great to celebrate two people's love, it felt great to drink sparkling white wine, it felt great to dance for three hours straight on the dance floor with two of my favorite people.  i had one of those rare and amazing moments where i realized just how happy i was.  everyday is not going to go that smoothly or feel that good, but i really feel like things are falling into place for me.  it's not always easy for me to be positive. i prematurely panic when things don't go as smoothly as my control freak brain would like them to go.  it feels nice to have a quiet, peaceful brain for once.

five years

five years ago i was at a bbq in prospect park.  we had hung out all day to secure a picnic table so that we could grill, drink beers, and listen to bob dylan at the bandshell.  i had a date with a guy scheduled for the following weekend, and i was thinking about canceling because he didn't even live in the city yet.  my friend maggie said i should just go.  so i did.  and five years ago today i went on a first date with some guy who later became my boyfriend.  while maintaining a healthy relationship for that long is a big deal, it made me think about all of the things i've gone through over the past five years and how important they were in getting me to this place.

1. i used to live with two of my best friends.  it was the most fun i have ever had living with roommates and i think the three of us understand each other in a way that no one else will truly understand us.  when i moved out (all the way to the first floor!) they stayed upstairs and poof! i got to feel like i lived in a college dorm again.  running down the hallway in pajama pants and a pint of ice cream. knocking on each other's doors. gathering for game of thrones viewing parties.  they just moved into their own apartments at the beginning of the summer and it was really hard for me--much harder than when i moved downstairs.  for the first time since i graduated from college i felt like: ok, time to live how most adult humans live.

2. the year before mike and i started dating i got a new job and i loved it. then i liked it a lot.  then the structure of the job--i went from working in one location to working in another while still part of the same company--and i liked it ok.  this past year though...yikes.  i was so unhappy and stressed. i didn't even realize that i was depressed until i began describing how i felt to friends.  i was browsing through my journal and realized that i had decided to make a change as early as october of last year.  flash forward and i am now getting ready to work at my dream school.  over the course of five years i've come full circle and i know that, work wise, i am finally in the right place.

3. i finally went back to school and worked my butt off to get my masters while also teaching full time. the last semester was emotionally, physically, and mentally exhausting but now i feel like all of that time and energy was worth it.

4. i went from not being sure if i should go on a date with someone, to hanging out with him occasionally, to being his girlfriend, to living with him.  who knew that someday he would become my favorite person.

cheers to five years of getting to hang out with this guy:

join together in song

 

fridays are the hardest days of the work week for me.  not only is every. single, person. ready for the weekend, but i have less time to get things done during that day than other days during the week.  after working hard all week it seems like friday pushes me even more to need the weekend.  after weeks of sort of pretending to plan it, a group of friends and i finally made plans to go to karaoke this past friday.  we met for dinner ahead of time, and then picked up some beers and snacks to bring into our private room (the only way to do karaoke in my opinion).  my afternoon had ended on a semi-sour note and i was really looking forward letting off some (a lot of) steam.  

since this year has been so tough for me, i feel like i've been appreciating my evenings and weekends more and more.  getting together with everyone reminded me, yet again, that these are the moments that i need to focus on.  it also felt good to be enjoying the city for one of the many reasons on the list of why i love new york.  

i hope that soon my work life can feel as positive and rewarding as my personal life, but until then it feels great to think about great friends and how i 100% killed "super bass" and "seether" on the mic.