Thanks Canada.

These are men, Lacking nothing.
Thanks Canada.

Happy Halloween!

Greetings once again friends!

I'm sure by now most of our readers have already done the traditional Halloween checklist items. Pumpkin. Check. Candy. Check. Costume. Check? 

Well, since we're still in Grad School and not really on the "party scene" we went pretty low key most would say. But that's not to say we don't enjoy ourselves!

Kyle volunteers at the local farmers market and last week he picked me out the perfect little pumpkin. (He biked back the several miles with it in his back pack for me! How else can I say how awesome he can be?!) So this pumpkin decorated the doorway for a few days and now finally its big moment has come. When else do a couple of graduate students carve their pumpkin? At 11:30pm of course!

Kyle's rendition: much better than my original tree concept!

The mountains have special meaning to us, the past adventures we've had in them and the hopeful dreams of future adventures to come. A fitting choice for such a lovely pumpkin!

 And no mountain scene would be complete with out a glowing sunset!

Well that just about wraps up this week, oh wait, it's only Wednesday night. In any case, Kyle and I wish you a Happy Halloween and successful trick-or-treating endevors. I think we might make a run to the store tomorrow to get that "discount candy" :) Well, remember to keep it simple, keep it sweet, and keep enjoying that Michigan fall that's sure trying to turn in to Michigan winter.
All the best, Em.

A Bit of Professional Fun Time

Hello friends and long time no see. Needless to say, the past few days have been quite the busy blur, or should I say past few weeks. In any case as Kyle and I continuously try to do, we make the best of our packed schedules and have fun with life!
Being apart of a design profession we often have the opportunity to attend conferences and workshops as a way of continuing our education as well as quite the way to network, not to mention usually some good food. This past week was packed, man those committees know how to over lap events! But what really matters is that my man pulled through and bought us both tickets to what for us is one of the most important social networking, the Michigan Society of Landscape Architects annual meeting! So after attending another conference we jumped in the car to head to near by Grand Rapids, not of course with out our rock climbing gear. You Can Get Climbing/Outdoor Gear Cheap through this website
After the afternoon of lectures and key note speakers and reconnecting with friends it was exciting to know the day's events were really just getting started. In what looks like an inconspicuous parking lot and steel building is a play ground unlike any you ever had in grade school.

Walls lined with little nubs of various shapes and colors mark out routes of various difficulties and a floor of foam pieces all mixed with a curious smell I can't quite put my finger on; but am certainly growing to like more and more. Inside Moves rock climbing gym is such an awesome place, small and open but with enough routes and lines to keep you busy. If you've never rock climbed before I highly suggest you do, no matter age or fitness level, or slight fear of heights. This particular trip marks my 5th time going to a gym and first time trying out my new gear. Yes, I committed and bought a pair of shoes, harness and necessary hardware, but it's an investment I'm positive will pay out over the long run.
I have to give a huge thanks to my "coach" Kyle. While he's beginning to understand my true physical limitations on the wall, he's also really beginning to understand when to push me, and that my Michigan dating friends is what makes all the difference. So, to my boyfriend, thank you for helping me get to the top once more.
I should add that as a date, rock climbing is an awesome choice. Team building, communication, getting hot and a little sweaty, not to mention realizing how weak your forearms can be, can really bring a pair together. And, the added bonus of being the belayer isn't that bad either. * Try it out and you'll see what I mean as you look up to spot your partner*
To top it all off a stop to get a local GR brew, Brewery Vivant, made this long day quite lovely.

~ Love, M

10 Ideas for outdoor/cheap dates in MI

Nina Akamu’s The American Horse @ Frederick Meijer Garden & Kyle

Festival
Concert - many local communities have musical groups preforming, check your area!

1.  We like to go to Frederick Meijer Gardens when on the west side of Michigan.  We tend to enjoy the "free" shows on Thursday nights that are attached to the price of the tickets.   Last time we where able to enjoy the gardens as well as the local folk/ bluegrass band.   Kinda awesome.

2.  Cooking with your special someone is always a good way to have a nice evening.  When Emaley and I have the time we enjoy picking up some fresh produce from our local farmers market and making a quality, fresh meal.  Plus we feel great about supporting out local farmers and culinary artisans from Michigan farmers markets.   The last time we were able to make some quality broccoli "pesto" pasta.  We like to find new recipes from food blogs and try them with fresh ingredients,  our favorite blog is Smitten Kitchen.  Make the Meal, Enjoy the Wine, Dine in Style and Enjoy the simple life while leaving the dishes for tomorrow!

3.   It is always nice to take some time out of your day and enjoy your local park.  The spring brings new colors and textures.  Summer means pack a frisbee or whatever it is ladies like to do to catch the sun.  Fall brings the vibrant colors of Maples and Birches, while Winter brings a lovely blanket of white in Michigan.  The four season are to be cherished in Michigan,  We have plenty of city parks as well as State forest, and a National Park and a National Lakeshore.

4. Have you considered riding your bicycle lately?  A new way to get to your favorite restaurant or ice cream shop, wither it is downtown or out in the country.  Think about it you get a nice ride in, so you can include desert with dinner or just go straight for desert.   As a rule of thumb I would wager that Emaley doesn't want to do any go further than 10 miles for her next meal,  I however enjoy a nice ride so I have to tame it down a bit (I wouldn't mind it actually as long as my rickety old bike can handle it).  Check out your local bicycle network and see where it might lead you,  think of it as a golden path.  

5.  When you got a great girl she will get you tickets to a Spartan Game or maybe even a Detroit Tigers Playoff game.  Well, we can't quite afford tickets to the Detroit Tigers Playoff games,  but it is fun every once and a while to go eat a dog and watch the hometown team.  Lansing Lugnuts or West Michigan Whitecaps,  their are plenty of local ball clubs in this great state.  Even Traverse City has some bums that like to play a game or two.   Now that it is hockey season,  don't forget about the ice rink as well.  For those who love their local ball club this not a hard sell, but even if you don't much care for sports it is always a good place to people watch.  A new setting to be as a couple.

6.  That last ideas reminded me of this one.  Take your lady for a nice ice skate.  Yeah, I know that skating is not yet in season,  but when it is.  The ladies love it (Emaley approves), and it can be pretty fun.  Outdoor rinks are better than indoor rinks,  just saying.

7.  Now that Michigan is once again becoming a culinary hotspot, it only makes sense to take advantage of this fact during a date.  So why not take your significant other to a wine/beer tasting event.  Southwest Michigan and the Traverse City are loaded with amazing local wineries,  While you can't beat the beers of Founders Brewery and Short's Brewery.  Yet, these days I prefer Brewery Vivant.   The apple cider Mills of Michigan are amazing as well,  but more on this later as the game is about to start.

8.  You can go pick berries or fruit with your special someone.   Magic happens in orchards,  that must be why so many beautiful pictures are taken in these landscapes.

9.  Go to your local bar,  grab a brew and learn how to play darts.  I play cricket, its a classic game.

10.   Take a drive,  Get Lost and find something new.  Find your way home on your own time.  This is when life is lived.

Any suggestions, or good stories let us know.   For now it is time to watch a football game.

Loving Michigan & Michigan Love

City of Art.

After a busy wedding weekend for my old brother Kellen and new sister-in-law Lacey Jae,  I sensed that my lovely girl wanted some alone time with me.  At least, time we shared that people wouldn't be asking us to assist in wedding plans, rehearsals, ceremonies and everything else that was invovled.  I needed to thank her for giving her time to my family for the weekend.   Artprize offered the great escape for the few hours we had until the monday morning blues would slap us both.     

  

My Emaley had never been downtown Grand Rapids, MI.  How that could happen is news to me, Grand Rapids is my favorite "big city" in Michigan.   Since it is part of my old stomping grounds when I went to Grand Valley State I was in control and new how to handle the massive crowds of Artprize.    I however had never been to Artprize, so the quantities of people where crazy for me even.

For those of you who don't know about Artprize here is a basic rundown.  GR is flooded with great artist,  local and international artists.  Their art is placed throughout the city,  We (the public) get to see it all for free,  and then vote for the best piece of the year.  The winner of Artprize goes home with a substantial purse of $$$$.  Kinda fun right.      

It was a great time because of the relaxed atmosphere and all the art, keeping the conversation fun, free and flowing.   Life is good when talking the Sunday afternoon stroll, especially when their is so much art to enjoy.   The horses in the river caught Emaley's eye quickly, and instantly she knew who she would be voting for.   She knew despite see only a percentage of Artprize, that is my babe sometimes she knows what she wants.   

She also loved this one,  a collage of plastics that formed a wonderful image of Marilyn Monroe.  Gotta love some found piece art, as I called it.  

I myself was partial to the sturgeon or salmon artwork installed in the Grand River.   The artist used the power of the flowing water to animate this school of fish traveling upriver to spawn.  Further upriver (outside of view) a real fisherman is poised to catch the fall run of salmon from Lake Michigan. 

Each of us had the camera for a while, sharing blog duties.  I caught her admiring a piece, vice versa. 

An elephant that I call found piece art.  I think it is called mixed media art. 

As I write this I don't have time to proofread because of all the other task that I must accomplish in a typical week for a graduate student.   Makes me want to spend more
time with my babe in Pure Michigan.  

- Dating MI

Simple Michigan Weekend

Its A Great Day for Football!  

Well with all Emaley and I have been doing lately on the weekends it is a good thing that we don't have season tickets to the Spartan football games this year.  However,  this weekend was our annual Landscape Architecture Alumni Tailgate at Michigan State University, and I needed to do some networking as the suits call it.

Even though Emaley isn't much for earlybird tailgating for any game,  let alone a 3:30 game.  I managed to get her on campus by 10:30 with a coffee in hand.  She can be a trooper sometimes,  when she knows I want to do something but she would rather be in bed with breakfast.  Lovely Lady she is.  

Tailgate always seems such a fun time at Michigan State University.  Get a group of people together who can relax a bit and enjoy a few cold ones, before their favorite college football team tees up for another MSU victory.  What made even better is all the delicacies.  White-bean chili, donuts,  cookies, fresh fruit,  pie, dogs on the grill,  coffee and even a growler from out visit to Short's Brewery a few weeks back.

Emaley and I got student section tickets because it was our last semester here at MSU,  possibly the last Hurrah in Spartan Stadium.   What a place to see a football game.  With the new mega-screen watching the game is no problem, and the play reviews are excellent.  This kept Emaley happy as I watched the action down on the field. While she likes football,  I think she likes it much more with finger food in sight and the option to go do something else in the next room.  Hey,  got to learn something new about your better half every day right?

All in all the weather turned out nice,  cheap tickets and a happy lady kept this man happy.  Also,  the Spartans half time show was kinda cool this week too.  Well a video is not on youtube yet, but when it is be rest assure I will post a link.  Here is to keeping my lady happy another day while I got a good football game in. For the Record the Spartans did end up winning on this most glorious of days,  23 -7 against the Eastern Michigan Eagles.  

Next week I plan on taking my lady for some more "civilized culture" in Grand Rapids, MI.  Can anyone in the cloud guess what that may be?   Oh, yeah and it is a relatively free event next week too. 

- Michigan Love. 

Quest to find the Barski Burger: How a Sport's Bar in the Forest Changed My Outlook on Eating, Travel, Life, and the Future

College life certainly has its ups and downs. A fact that Kyle and I were finding out on a whole new level this past summer as we slipped into a new realm of higher education that is graduate school. Life was becoming more work focused, find work, do work, find work, do work, it never ended. So, as the party scene started to become no longer a part of our feasible life style, so too we felt drifting from us free time, a sense of spontaneity, youth. And this, my friends, if you continue to follow us in our path of adventure, you will find quite quickly is most certainly not US.
No longer wishing to feel like a walk on in Ground Hog Day, we packed the car with the ever-ready-to-go camping essentials and hit the road. Desitination? The little west Michigan town of Baldwin. You might ask why. Good question, sure the town is primarily a tourist town, a feature we've both come to value and dislike at the same time. (lesson learned: stay out side of town, venture in after peak hours to get the real feel of the place) But, as for Baldwin in specific- sure we love the area's lakes and rivers, as well as the vast wilderness of the Manistee National Forest or perhaps even the local festivities which include the annual Blessing of the Bikes (in which thousands of motorcyclists come from around the United States) and Troutarama, as well as Shrine of the Pines.
But the reason for the trip in particular; a quest! The suggestion to make a drive from East Lansing to Baldwin for the sole purpose of visiting a biker bar with a legendary burger. Behold, I give you the knowledge of Barski and his Barski Burger!

Again, you might be thinking we really were crazy graduate students to drive over 2.5 hrs just to get some ground beef and fries. Perhaps, or perhaps not! The little town is pretty much located along on street (M37/M10) so we figured it be east to find the eatery. Ummm not really, but stopping in a little shop gave us more than just directions. The owner of the clothing shop we stopped in gave us some local history and told us the way to Barksi, just a bit further North on M37.

When you pull up and see the place it's complete biker bar heaven. Casual atmosphere, comfort foods, and the standard draft and bottle beer choices make an out of towner feel like a local. As Kyle quickly noticed, the bar proudly displays the Polish flag and serves several traditional Polish style entrees. I ordered the kielbasa with kraut and rye served with an out of this world horseradish aioli (even Kyle, who hates horseradish said this stuff was bomb.) And the kielbasa was by far some of the best I've ever had, and I know a good Polish kielbasa when I taste one!
This brings me to the holy grail of burgers, totally worthy of the name Barski. The Barski Burger. Burger, bacon, pickles, garlic aioli, toasted bun, home made fries. Ermagoshgood! When the plates were licked clean, literally, we took another look at the menu and debated getting the bleu cheese poppers (we like finger food, a lot) but thought better of it considering we'd be in a tent in the back woods for the night. But no worries, we're set up for another reason to visit Baldwin and the crew at Barski Bar.

Kyle's in Burger Heaven

As I recount this summer weekend trip on a chilly September day, sitting in a computer lab back on MSU's campus, sounded by mounds of work walling me in once again, I am reminded of that warm summer afternoon Kyle and I left all this behind to find a burger in the woods. And, I am also reminded that just because the present seems doggedly boring and the to-do list never ending, we are together, and together we are only a relatively short drive, a few good conversions and radio-singalongs away from foodie paradise. So, hold fast friends! and dream of that Burger of burgers.