The Victory Mentality

Nike's slogan is right on. I never really thought of myself as subscribing to the Nike mentality, but when I considered that fact, I thought fondly of Michael Jordan and my childhood, so I guess I was wrong.

(And then I recalled this awesome related commercial from the 90's which was sadly ahead of it's time.)

After a long weekend of organizing and packing, I am exhausted and was starting to talk myself out of working out and my usual morning routine. But then my mind told my body, 'We're doing this now," and we so did. (When you actually consider it, isn't it funny how smart the brain is? That it can just tell other things to do things, whether you think them or not?)

Just doing it is the quickest, easiest way to do anything that you don't particularly want to do at that particular moment. Also weird when you think about it, because at the same time, starting is the hardest part. I personally hate the look of a new, untouched InDesign document.

So that's my Monday morning advice. :) Read interesting things about the goddess Nike here, check out the history of the Air Jordans here, or do your dance at the Space Jam.


P.S. I've now heard the news that Calvin is retiring this year, sad face. I'll probably talk about this more later, he was one of the best things to happen to the Lions during my fandom so far!

Munising Mustangs at Ford Field!

We are not those people who get up early the day after Thanksgiving to wait in line to buy more stuff nobody needs. This year, though, we did get up early on Friday to make our first trip to Ford Field!

Defend the Den - Go Lions!

We were there to watch the Munising Mustangs in the high school football playoffs. Kyle's parents grew up in Munising, and a lot of his family still lives there, so they headed downstate and we all met up at the Field to watch the game. For those of you who don't know, Munising is a small town in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. It's on the north side of the Upper Peninsula, along Lake Superior. We spend every 4th of July there, and it's definitely another reason why we love Pure Michigan!

We had a fun time exploring the Field while waiting for the game to start. It really is a great facility, and I would definitely return for a Lions game! (If you've been playing along a home, you know I'm a huge Detroit Lions football fan.)

Kyle is about 6"3 - does that give you an idea of how big this tree is?!

Although Munising lost,  it was a really fun experience and a good game! And bonus, we got to see Kyle's cousin Lily perform with her marching band, playing Kyle's instrument from high school!

Lily's the one playing the mellophone. Do you know what a mellophone is? :)

Chicken Sandwiches

Apparently I only blog when Kyle plays Halo. He pointed it out as he turned on the Xbox tonight and...he's kinda right!

I can't believe that summer's almost gone again. I love August, except for that. And this August 15 I turned 28. Year 27 year was many things, and going in I had high expectations. There was lots of good, but there was also loss and change and growth. The weekend was beautiful though, and we were visited by friends and family!

Lovely day on Lake Michigan! Sneak attack photography by Kyle :)

Birthday time is even more special these days because of my birthday buddies! I have a little cousin, Jordan, who was born on the 15th also and turned 5 this year; but my sweet little niece, V, turned 2 on August 21! She visited for my birthday, and then we got to go celebrate with her the next weekend - video coming soon!

Opening up some books, her favorite things!

Here's another photo, because it's funny:

The coolest birthday gifts come in a bag with this weird guy on it. Thanks, baby!

P.S. You may be wondering why this blog is called 'Chicken Sandwiches'. I refer you here. I mean, if you didn't already know. But you should. And Kyle just teased me again about blogging while he plays Halo.

Wine Tasting in the Leelanau Peninsula

Last weekend we went wine-tasting in the Leelanau peninsula with our roomie Beth to celebrate her upcoming birthday. Kyle had never been before, and I only had been to the famous Grunst Brothers fall event in Big Rapids (seriously, Big Rapids peeps, if you haven’t gone, check it out) so it seemed like a great opportunity to escape the city for a night and head up to Traverse City!

Mission Peninsula in Traverse City during our trip there last June. Oh summer!

We started out at Chateau de Leelanau so we could pick up a handy-dandy map of the peninsula. It was a good place to start! $5 for 5 tastes, and they give you a laminated menu and marker so you can mark what you want to try.

Next we drove north to Leelanau Wine Cellars so that we could work our way back down the peninsula. If you live in Michigan, you've likely had their wines. It's even available at Meijer. What you might not know is that they offer "Tasting Room Only" flavors that aren't available anywhere else. They also have complimentary tasting. This was my favorite winery of the day, for so many reasons. The man who served us was another reason - he had recommendations based on what we liked, and as Kyle pointed out, was really excited about watching you taste the wine.

We backtracked a bit to go to Beth's favorite, Black Star Farms. It was crowded, but I liked most of what I tried and they had several different pre-picked flights for you to choose from based on your taste. Best of all here: you get to keep your cute little tasting glass, which is etched with their logo.

Pro-tip: most of the wineries are only open until 5 or 6 PM, so you have to start earlier than we did to make it to more places. We only made it to four...

...which brings me to our last stop, Tandem Ciders. No, this isn't a winery, but is all about the ciders! I really loved everything that we tried here, and they even made a great suggestion and let us mix our two favorites in our to-go growler.

As a side note, we had dinner at Mackinaw Brewing Company (this threw us the first time too - it's actually located in downtown Traverse City). If you love craft beers and love a nice burger, this place is for you. Our recommendation is the dill havarti cheese sticks as an appetizer - we had these for the first time last year and still talk about them.

All in all, it was a great weekend to celebrate our best friend's birthday.

Cheers!

Julez