So I have been MIA for a while now. I have been very busy and I have done quite a bit since my last post about Lolla. I started to write a post about a trip I took to Michigan with some friends. That post has not made it out of edit format and probably never will. I went to Michigan again for a couple football games, Labor Day, and I have been pretty busy around here in Chicago. So I figured I will just give a little recap of what I have been so busy doing.
Pure Michigan- Aug 10 to Aug 14
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| Walking the streets on Mackinac Island |
This is a trip that I have been planning for over a year. I took a few friends with my to the cottage in Northern Michigan. We went to Mackinac Island the first day where we walked around the island and then rented bikes and biked around the island. Along the way around we made pit stops to enjoy a cool beer every few miles! This trip had lots of inside jokes with one of my favorites being "is this Shelper's?". The second day we drove to Northwest Michigan and went hiking up Sleeping Bear Sand Dunes which was voted the #1 beach in America! We went down to the water and spent a little time playing in the waves of Lake Michigan before taking a drive to a few local wineries and a distillery.
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| Leland, MI |
The weekend portion of this trip was spent running from the rain at the cottage. So when it rains that only leaves an abundance of card game options, mostly involving drinking! In between the rain and sun we managed to get some time in out on the lake. We played a fair amount of yard games mostly just kubb though. Tyler and Josh took the weekend title of champions but I want a rematch! It was truly a great trip with some good friends and I was very happy to share my love for Northern Michigan with some people that had never been up there before.
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| Running down Sleeping Bear Sand Dunes |
Tyler’s going away- Aug 20
Shortly after returning from the Pure Michigan trip Tyler packed up and left us in Chicago. He didn’t go without a proper goodbye consisting of drunkenness and fun, laughs and cry’s and surprises. Jenni flew in from DC for the night just to celebrate with Tyler. We took over Louies pub and sang lots of karaoke before wandering to another bar (that I don’t remember the name…..) for some dancing and partying. It was sad to see Tyler leave but I’m sure he will have a great time in Germany and hopefully he makes it back to Chicago from time to time to visit all of us.
Chicago Air and Water- Aug 21
I went with my friend Ashley to a party for the Air and Water Show down at Diversey Harbor. Someone from her company was hosting the event and apparently has turned this party into an annual thing. I got down there and just sorta stared. They had a pool set up, porta-potties, two roasted pigs, and tons of food and people. I mostly just hung out with Ashley and Nikki and watched the show and took pictures. It was the first time I have been to this show and actually enjoyed it. I think I mostly enjoyed the “water show” which consisted of cops arresting drunks and stupid people and chasing them out of the restricted area.
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| Hungry, Hungry for Justice! |
MSU Yacht Cruise- Aug 26
This was sort of a last minute decision. My friends Newman and Kari were both going and so I decided to join them. It was a great idea! We met up at Rock Bottom for a pre drink. Some time in life I will learn its never a good idea to have a drink before an all you can drink event. We made our way to the boat and set sail down the Chicago River and then out into Lake Michigan. It was a great set up on Chicago’s First Lady. The food, wine, and entertainment was great. I had a lot of fun hanging out on the water and enjoying the magnificent Chicago Skyline with a drink in hand! We made it to the after party where I claimed my free drink there though I didn’t drink it. Somehow I let Newman talk me into going out in Wicker Park that night which I don’t really remember all that well but I do remember having a great time!
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| Enjoying some beverages on the river |
Labor Day/MSU- Sept 2 to Sept 5
I went home for Labor Day Weekend and got tickets for the MSU game which was played on a Friday night. I met up with a few friends and wandered around campus Friday during the day before I met up with my parents to tailgate and go to the game. We ended up having 5 or 6 tickets for the three of us so I sat in the better seats of course! After the game we drove to the cottage for the weekend. It was a work weekend but that didn’t mean we couldn’t have some fun. We had a large Labor Day BBQ with our neighbors and bon fires every night. It was a great way for me to end my “summer”
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| Touchdown MSU |
Tigers/Sox games- Sept 12 & Sept 13
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| Birthday Brat? |
I have been a real fan of the Tigers since my friends dragged me to a game my freshman year on College. Before that I found baseball to be boring. So now that I am a fan of the Tigers I only had a short time span to go to Tigers games and watch them at home. Now that I have moved from Michigan I only get to watch the Tigers when they play away. I went to both night games this fall when the Tigers came to town to beat the White Sox! The first night was for my friend’s birthday. We had 3 rows of people so it was a lot of fun and Detroit blew out the Sox so we had to find some other entertainment towards the end of the game. We started the wave and cheered obnoxiously for a floating plastic bag in the stadium.
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| Go Tigers! |
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| Nikki and Fran |
The next night I went back to the Tigers game with a much smaller group. My friend from the night before and a mutual friend we both have. Fran came to Chicago for work and joined us at the Tigers game. I had not seen Fran since her wedding two years prior so it was great to catch up and hang out!
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| Me and the Birthday Girl |
Birthday Trolley- Sept 17
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| The Birthday Girls |
My “fitness friend” Brittani and my friend Nikki had a joint birthday party and rented out a trolley to take us all gallivanting around the city of Chicago. During the day Brittani and I ran our 22 mile training run for the Chicago Marathon. I then went to the bar and had a beer and watched MSU choke and lose to Notre Dame before getting ready for the trolley. The trolley was a lot of fun though I was so tired from the run and watching MSU. I had to rally to get some energy for this 3 hour trip of debauchery but it was well worth it. We made a couple pit stops, first at Sheffield’s then McDonalds and our final stop was Duffy’s.
Duffy’s was fun till I decided to go home. The people at Duffy’s were nice enough to allow us to leave our extra alcohol in the vestibule but when I went to go home they were incredibly rude. I went and grabbed my wine juice box to go home and the bouncer came up to me and said “What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” I said grabbing my wine and going home. This wouldn’t have been odd till his next response of “Good get the fuck out of here” That is when I got mad and then said something along the lines like ‘what the hell is your problem’ which just lead to a pissing match. Needless to say that place would have been mostly empty without us so screw them they are a UofM bar anyways.
MSU/Central- Sept 23 to Sept 25
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| Me and Mandy at the game |
I went home a few weekends later for the MSU vs Central football game. Since my parents were out in Wyoming visiting my sister I went to Royal Oak and stayed with my friend Mandy. We packed up the car to go tailgating and as we were leaving Bryan took off and ended up driving over my foot. Surprisingly a small SUV does not hurt that much though I don’t want to test that out ever again. Once we made it to East Lansing we set up our tailgate and had a great time. The weather was perfect! It was great to hang out in East Lansing and go to the game. We blew out Central so the game started to get a little boring but it was still a ton of fun. Once we made it back to Royal Oak I went out with my friend Kristin for a while. I have never spent much time in Royal Oak but it seems like a nice area. Sunday I went up to Lansing and picked up my parents from the airport and hung out with them for a bit while they told me about their trip to my sisters before I made my drive back to Chicago.
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| Sparty |
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| Driving back from Michigan |
Kickball, Food, and Laughs- Sept 30 & Oct 1
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| Me and Amy. I got her to join this season |
I am playing my 3rd fall season of Kickball currently and we had our mid-season party. I first got there and wasn’t really feeling it but after a drink I was loosening up a bit and then by the end of the night I was just living on the dance floor. I played some life sized Jenga, a little flip cup and of course dancing. The DJ was pretty good, I kinda felt like I was at a wedding with the style of music they were playing. They played one slow song and I danced with my friend Rachel and we acted like we were in middle school keeping an arm’s length away from each other. I mean the DJ did tell us to make sure we save room for Jesus between us!
