We Went to Hell in A Handbasket

And I mean that quite literally. Hell, Michigan--AKA, "Michigan's Hysterical Town," lies due north of Ann Arbor. With just four establishments, Hell is teensy. But it makes up for its diminutive size by capitalizing on its name. The city's website, for instance, is called Go To Hell (dot com). A real barrel of laughs, am I right? But wait, there's more: its Post Office/Pizza Parlor sportingly calls itself "Hell in A Handbasket" and has...

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We Fall For Fall

 October has treated us well so far. Our ward fall festival was a blast (loved our friends who channeled the Chaplins). Defending our chili title for the second year running, our luscious brisket chili managed a win in the mild division. Warren has been told on several occasions (including his student evaluations) that he looks like Mitchell from Modern Family. As a nod to our favorite show and one of the funniest episodes, Warren decided...

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Your Favorite Road Trip Songs?

 I grew up in a suburb of Los Angeles. As with most teenage populations, there was a general consensus in our 'burb that you were pretty much nothing without a car. Like Lloyd Dobler's Malibu in Say Anything, a car was your castle. This is why turning 16 was awesome. Forget Super Sweet Sixteen parties, I finally got my hands on my family's 1989 Buick Royale. So what if I had to turn it on with a screwdriver that I stored under my seat? A car...

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Top 5 Things to Do Around Lake St. Clair

About every two weeks or so I make plans for a big move. I generally set my eye on realistic locales such as Sao Paulo or, more recently, Barcelona. Somewhere warm, with a beach, and great seafood. To sate my current bout of wanderlust, I took Warren on a day trip around Lake St. Clair for his birthday. Lake St. Clair is adorable for many reasons but I really love its underdog rally to become the Next Great Lake. For a lake the approximate size of...

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6 Reasons to Love or Loathe Mondays: A graph

Much to my dismay, I never wake up on Monday mornings feeling like P Diddy (Ke$ha LIES, people); in fact, every Monday in recent memory I have woken up feeling like my life will never be happy again. Because I have to go to work. Once I get to work, I usually query Trish with encouraging gchats such as:me: why does monday always have to be so hard?To which she is obliged to give me the cold, hard truth:Patricia: because life is hard.  and...

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A Song For Autumn

Friends, it is officially autumn and I have a gallon of hot cider to prove it (topped with Cool Whip's amazing cinnamon awesomeness, naturally). So to celebrate, here's one of my favorite front stoop moments of all time, recorded on the first day of autumn 3 years ago. The mastermind behind this group Ingrid Michaelson sing-a-long is my favorite pal, Trish. She is so obsessed with fall that she has an annual party just to welcome the season in style, which I totally approve. What is your favorite part about fall? Freshly sharpened pencils? Sweaters?...

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Saturday Fail, Dark Sky Magazine Win!

Saturday, AKA: the best day of the week, is typically pure bliss. I usually sleep in while Warren plays basketball. But a few Saturdays ago, I was rudely awakened from my sweet slumber by a phone call. It was Warren who said something articulate like: "Uh, hey, I'm driving to the emergency room..."Because his finger looked like this:Which doesn't look that bad, but here's what it looked like on the inside (ouch):During his five hour emergency room...

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Top 5 Things to Do in Paradise

Fact: the photo below was not taken in some tropical paradise, even though it looks like one. Yes, friends, we went to the very exotic destination known as "America" for our summer vacation--Michigan's Upper Peninsula, to be exact. Once known for its booming copper mines, the UP (pronounced "you" "pee"--har har) is now riddled with ghost towns and shipwrecks. However, its utter isolation is actually one of its best features, as far as tourism...

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HOW TO MAKE MILLIONS OF DOLLARS WRITING FLUFF

1. Research "The Market" 2. Discover that the New York Times bestsellers list is consistently topped by inspirational animal books like Dewey the Library Cat: The Small-Town Library Cat Who Touched the World AND its hit sequel, Dewey's Nine Lives: The Legacy of a Small-Town Library Cat Who Inspired Millions. 3. Bemoan the world that allowed these books to make millions of dollars because they had large photos of cuddly animals on their covers.4....

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Top 3 Most Underwhelming Roadside Attractions

I will understand if you can no longer bear to be my friend after skimming through this post. As a warning to the fainthearted, I may come across as heartless or even, quite possibly, un-American. But keep in mind that my excitement leading up to seeing all three of these sites rivaled only that of Kristin Bell's sloth meltdown, with the significant difference being that my excitement did not result in cuddling with a sloth. Also, as you read, try...

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The Cherry on Top

So it's decided: Warren and I are going to move to Sleeping Bear Dunes and open a B&B called "The Cherry on Top" (because MI's lower peninsula is obsessed with cherries). We're going to build it on this tree-filled hill that overlooks Lake Michigan and the glowy, lovely dunes. Don't worry, there will be a zip line through the forest to the lake and hearty breakfasts and desserts topped with cheerful maraschino cherries. This, of course,...

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Karaoke Win

According to my extensive Wikipedia research, there are 35,684 "song rooms"--or private karaoke rooms--currently operating in South Korea. Everyday 1.9 million Koreans sing their hearts out to a room of their nearest and dearest. In Ann Arbor, Michigan, there are currently two operating song rooms visited by at least four people in a given night. And yes, those four people were me and three friends. Stephanie's sole (to my knowledge) birthday...

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The Ultimate Fail

This weekend we went on Warren's idea of the The Best Date in the History of Dates, i.e.: a professional ultimate frisbee game. Yes, folks, you heard me. Professional Ultimate Frisbee. Though it may sound like an oxymoron to many, to Warren it was paradise, as proven by the following photo where he has become possessed by Ultimate fanaticism:Now I have nothing against Ultimate, per se, but I do think it's kind of ridiculous, generally speaking. Warren,...

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