Outfits and icebergs

I'm practicing to be someone famous only without the money or the talent. I had five outfit changes today. Yes, five.

The first outfit change was after the capri pants I was wearing met an untimely end (just got dirty) when my flip flops flipped and flopped muddy parking lot water onto my backside.

Outfit number two was changed when I went to go clean the basement with super duper cleaning product. I didn't want to ruin my "good" clothes.

Outfit number three was exchanged for my running clothes.

The running clothes were replaced by lounge clothes.

Also, in case you're wondering, there is still ice on Lake Superior. It has all broken up and is mostly icebergs floating around the great lake, but still… it's June 11th and there's ice. Here is the link to the Memorial Day post, my favorite is the beer siting in the ice on the beach.

And because it happens ALL the time, the Detroit Tigers catcher, Avila, just got hit by a ball (he's batting). We aren't laughing at his misfortune, but it is uncanny how often he gets hit. It's rarely because he's crowding the plate; it's from a foul ball, when he's batting, or other random wild pitches or hits. Seriously, it happens at least once a game.

I'm thankful that I wasn't successful at being a catcher in softball. Dad tried, but I liked first base or short stop. I could not get used to having the batter that close. And now that I think about it years later, I have really good depth perception. I shouldn't have been afraid, but I was terrified.

It probably would have helped if I'd kept my eyes open.

Take me out to the ball game...

Back at Christmas, Bill was sent an email from CMU to buy tickets to a Tigers game on June 6th as an alumni event. We asked our friends Chandra and Jason if they would like to come with us.

Friday, June 6th arrived and the four of us headed to Detroit (Motor City) to Comerica Park. We found the alumni reception where we each got our free popcorn and free CMU t-shirts. We had some refreshing beverages and then went out found out stadium seats.

There is no such thing as a bad seat in newer stadiums. We were along the third base line, well into outfield. There were only about four more sections to the end. We were also in the third tier. Again, not bad seats, we had a great view of the entire field. The down side only came when a ball was hit high; then perspective really threw us all off and we had a difficult time figuring out where it was going to land. Fortunately, the Tigers did not have that perspective and were able to make several easy catches.

My phone quickly died. But Chandra and Bill had theirs, so we have a few good pictures. Like this one.

Then there's this one.

 We were having way too much fun. Can  you see Jason in the background (just behind Bill's left ear) paying close attention to the game. I watched most of the game, but it is baseball. Talking is allowed.

And so are silly photos.

The Tigers beat the Red Sox 6-2. It was a great game with a couple of home runs. 

We stayed for the fireworks which were not disappointing. They were spectacular! And our seats were perfect. The majority of the fireworks were right at our level. It was a lovely evening.

totally random Saturday post

Yup, the muffins are better with sugar.

Yesterday, Friday, I had a wedding rehearsal. I know the bride from Needtobreathe concerts.

With the rehearsal being yesterday, that means the wedding was today. It was a chilly May day here in Grand Rapids, and it started off cloudy. However it has changed over to blue skies and sunshine. The wedding ceremony was lovely and the bride was beautiful.

They were efficient with their photos and everything was all wrapped up by 3pm. That gave me time to come home and do some light housework (i.e. clean sheet day).

Then Bill and I headed out for date night at one of the local establishments, The Green Well. It was delicious. It's yet another farm to table dining experience. We have several and this one made the best places to eat in GR list.

The list is correct, the food was superb. I had the Cherry Street Pork Pesole and Bill had the special Spring Carbonara. We also tried their truffle fries. (Honestly, I like the fries at Brewery Vivant better, or the "crack" fries at Hop Cat, but you don't know until you try!)

We are now relaxing and watching the Tigers vs. Red Sox game on the tele. Speaking of tele, did you catch the ultimate match on Jeopardy Thursday night and last night? It was the champions of champions. If you like Jeopardy at all then you know who Ken, Brad and Roger are and they are the three who competed for the ultimate prize (I don't think it was advertised as "ultimate", I think technically they were calling it the Tournament of Decades but it came down to the ultimate show-down, at least in my book).

I'm thankful for all the great restaurants that support local farms, right here in West Michigan.

If the shoe fits...

I am thankful for fried chicken, it was so yummy, but I'm going to write about what we did yesterday.

Our town may not be big enough for The Body Shop, but it's just the right size for me. We have hockey, we have baseball, we have a symphony, ballet and an opera house. We have multiple theaters (as in the theatre, not cinema but we have those too), musical stages, free art events throughout the year, ArtPrize, and an amazing sculpture garden. We have an art museum, public museum, a children's museum and a presidential museum.

We may not ever be able to host the Olympics, but we get to see professionals play sports (Bill almost got hit by a foul ball thanks to Omar Infante when he was back from an injury playing for the Whitecaps) and we don't have to take out a loan to pay for tickets.

Rush hour traffic means you'll be stuck an extra ten minutes. Trust me, after driving in Memorial weekend traffic on the Jersey shore, rush hour anywhere is laughable.

Okay, depending on where you're going in Grand Rapids, and what happened it could take an extra twenty minutes. But that only happened once. And it was a double whammy, road construction and an accident.

What I'm trying to say is, this is a great place to live. There's a reason we've made so many different top ten lists.

Last night we went out for our annual hockey game with friends, Amy and Adam. We had great seats and at $16/ticket, it's a cheap date.

But don't count dinner. We always go to our favorite restaurant, San Chez. They specialize in Mediterranean tapas. We always get carried away and order way more food than we really need. It's easy to do since we're all sharing the plates of food.

I'm thankful that we can have a fun night out with good friends watching hockey for fairly cheap. And, remember that rush hour drive time, everything is close enough that we were home by 10:15pm. In other cities it would have taken an hour or longer to get home from a venue like a hockey arena.

Grand Rapids is just the right size.

birds of a feather...

Atticus is a Tigers fan.

Yes. As in the Detroit Tigers. Baseball.

And yes, Atticus is our cat.

Bill has started calling him "Pocket Panther" because Atticus is a killer bird.

You'll recall the bird funeral?

Well, yesterday I was in the kitchen. I was baking cookies to send along with the sr. high youth on their mission trip. They leave Friday. Just like the bird funeral, I heard quite the ruckus outside. This time I knew it was a blue jay because I've started learning bird calls. The blue jays are quite distinct and loud. I also knew they were upset with our cat. Maybe I understand the bird calls more than the average person.

I'm the bird whisperer.

Anyway, I looked outside to see if I could see the blue jay making all the noise and that was the exact moment that Atticus bounded up to the sliding glass door with a large blue jay clamped in his jaws.

Needless to say, I screamed.

Atticus was proud. He looked more like a peacock in that moment than a killer. This was only the second time Atticus has brought an animal to our doorstep. We hear lots of stories from our friends about the kills that their pets bring them; the "look at me? aren't you proud?" moments that we are happy to not be a part of. And suddenly, on this Tuesday morning, I was a part of it.

I had walked into the living room to get my phone so I could text Bill. This was a blue jay. These birds are not small. They are the bullies of the bird kingdom. No one messes with the blue jays.

We have been waiting for Atticus to be bullied by them. Not the other way around. Certainly, we did not expect Atticus to catch one!

I had just sent the text and was screwing up the courage to walk back into the kitchen when, all of a sudden, the blue jay flew off! Atticus had dropped it and walked a few steps away to sit back and admire his catch. An epic mistake in animal kingdom.

The bird wasn't dead.

It did leave a few feathers behind.

A few minutes later, I heard the screams of a child.

They could have been I'm-having-fun-outside screams. Or, they could have been a-bird-just-fell-out-of-the-air screams.

Detroit beat the Toronto Blue Jays yesterday. Atticus is part tiger, part panther.

It. Could. Go. All. The. Way.

I've talked about baseball before. You can go here, to read, then follow the link on that post to read even more.

I haven't mentioned (or can't find where I did) that watching baseball is a newer phenomenon in our house.

When Bill and I were first married, we lived in Detroit. Bill detested baseball. I was (and still am, sigh) a Cubs fan. Living in Detroit the odds of catching a Cubs game were as good as the Cubs winning the pennant.

Then we moved to Georgia. They have never heard of baseball. While we could afford to upgrade our cable, baseball was still not televised in the Uebbing house. There were better things to watch. Football. Formula 1 races. Trading Spaces.

I miss that show.

Then we left the south and headed into New Jersey. That meant only one thing: the Yankees.

As you all know by now, we moved back to Michigan. America's high five. We lived here for a few years and very little baseball was viewed on our tv.

I can't say I was disappointed or frustrated that Bill wasn't a baseball fan, but maybe confused. Everyone loves baseball. Even if you don't, you can pretend you do while you eat hot dogs and drink beer.

Then, when Bill was traveling to Cleveland and had his apartment in Detroit, I started watching the Cubs. I had the remote to myself, it was the middle of summer and I remembered why I liked baseball so much.

We went to a Cubs game with my cousin and his family.

Baseball was creeping into the Uebbing house.

Last year, Bill had several opportunities to go to Tigers games. For business.

The next thing I knew, we were watching baseball games at home. We were yelling at the tv. I realized I could like the Tigers (and stop explaining to everyone I met in Michigan why I was a Cubs fan).

Now, while I am not an avid fan, I do recognize more Tigers players than Cubs. But Bill... Bill has had a complete turn around. He knows stats. He knows stats! It's like he's Greg, channeling all that love for baseball. Bill asked me if there was a game on tonight, and when I said yes, he smiled.

He found the reason why this is America's favorite pastime.

While we were watching the game last night, we were discussing how neither of us has ever seen a grand slam. Granted, they don't happen that often, but they always seem to happen when it's a game we're not watching.

And then, the bases were loaded. Dirks was up-to-bat. He swung, and the crack was the perfect pitch (pun intended). It was launched into the air.

It was going...

Going...

GONE! DIRKS HIT A GRAND SLAM AND WE SAW IT!

Welcome to our home baseball. Welcome.

Summertime events

We save things on the DVR to watch during the summer months when our favorite shows are on reruns. A side note: there will come a day when kids don't even know what that's like. There will be new shows on constantly plus the addition of streaming everything online is changing how we view tv.

So we've saved some shows. As I told you last week, I saved the end of the Desperate Housewives series. But instead of watching those shows, we're watching baseball. This, of course, will change tomorrow with the Opening Ceremonies of the Olympics. Neither will last forever, so we feel that we must watch them now. We feel it necessary to enjoy these sports as they happen.

We should be sitting outside enjoying the summer. Bill predicted it would be the wettest summer on record because we purchased the new patio furniture. Instead it has been too hot.

We will continue to be couch potatoes. Maybe next year will be the year we watch less tv...

A day of rest

I am taking a day of rest. We should all do this more often than we do, so today I am going to be completely lazy. I'm going to watch tv (both of my baseball teams are being televised, I'm very excited about this!) and do a whole lot of nothin'.

And I'm okay with that.

I hope you find some time to rest. It's summer. We should all slow down and enjoy it.

those "young kids"...

I like baseball. I've blogged about it here. Bill blogged about it here. Really you can't find more differing opinions but you should read his post.

The sad thing is I've started to realize how much younger most of the players are. Now, as I come to grips with this fact and the fact that Bill is starting to get into the game, I find myself calling the players, "kids".

I think this means I am officially old.

But I'm not calling myself old. I'm just going to sound old.

"Hey Kid!"

"Why'd you drop that?"

"How come you didn't catch that?"

I'm a good fan, yelling at the tv and all.

The Olympics are coming up soon, not all of those athletes are "young kids" so I'll enjoy watching the older folks compete.

Lions, Tigers and Bears. Oh my!

The only thing that would make this perfect is if the Tigers were playing the K.C. Royals (okay, technically they're from Missouri, but it could have happened).

Get it? Kansas. Lions, tigers and bears, oh my!

Okay. I probably didn't have to explain it.

We can't watch the Tigers game. It's too close.

Instead, we're waiting for the Lions vs. Bears game. I'm making the grocery list for tomorrow and then I'm going to go do dishes. I'm also texting Sarah. She's giving me the game updates. It's much less stressful this way. Call us chickens. We don't care. We already jumped on the bandwagon.

Yes. I admit it. I haven't been a long-time Tigers fan.

For you sports fans, you won't like what I'm about to say: I like the teams that are in the mid-west in general. If there's a game on and the team is from Michigan, Indiana, Illinois (for the most part), Wisconsin or Minnesota, I'll root for them. The only sport that is the exception is hockey. (enter strong midwest accent) You don't live here and not root for the Wings. They're our team.

So I've rooted for the Tigers. I'm just a bigger (and more disappointed) Cubs fan. But since the Tigers have had a very exciting year, and our neighbor spent most of the summer working on his house, outside with the Tigers game on, I've not been in the dark. But I admit that I'm still jumping onto the bandwagon.

I'm going to go do the dishes now.