& that's the way life goes

It’s official, I’m a Michigan Up North snob…

C and I ventured to Port Sanilac this past weekend. I’m kind of obsessed with Lake Huron. It’s kind of my lake…you got that MINE! (haha) We rented this great cottage we found on craig’s list. (any of you Michigan readers that are looking for a place to rent I have tons of phone numbers!) The place was great, it was owned by a family and you could see the Lake from the window. The cottage was 2 bedrooms with all the trimmings of a real up north cottage. You know the mismatching curtains and pictures of ships and freighters. We even walked by the realty offices and looked at the properties they had posted in the windows.

So why am I a snob you ask?

Simple.

Port Sanilac is in the thumb area of Michigan. It’s about an hour and a half from Detroit. The coastline is covered with huge houses that have 2 mile long driveways to the main road. I’m not saying ALL the houses are ginormous, but a majority of them are. (And please…don’t get me wrong it’s beautiful there, I just missed my special up north place) When I go “up north” I want forests, rivers, wide open space, canoeing, kayaking AND Lake Huron. All I got was Lake Huron. I’m sure there was somewhere close by that I probably find all the other stuff but I WANT IT TOGETHER. Yes, I did just throw myself on the floor with my arms and legs flailing…don’t judge.

I like going to new places but I don’t think I’ll ever find a place I’m as comfortable at than Oscoda. I guess part of me doesn’t like change. I like getting excited when I get the intersection of M-65 and US-23 (I still remember when the flea market used to be at that corner). My heart starts to race as I see the coastline of Lake Huron when we get closer and closer to Tawas. I have flashbacks of the smell of pee when I pass Tawas Beach (the slide came out of the whale’s mouth and all I can remember is not wanting to play there cuz it smelled funny *wrinkles nose). I always say I want to stop at the marina and get ice cream and I have to mention how I lost my bubble gum ice cream off the cone. I just HAVE TO!

So I think you get my point. There is only one place that I’m going to buy a cottage. And I promise you that I will…one day.

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So the actual trip was nice though, for the most part. C and I did our best not to kill one another and we had a pretty ok time. It rained A LOT and there was no tv in our cottage. I didn’t have a problem with this at all, someone had left a book called Shocking Pink by Erica Spindler that I started and had to finish. When we got up there Saturday the weather looked iffy, but we chanced it and walked the beach to find something to eat. When we exited the restaurant it was POURING. We got totally soaked. We went back and got the car and ventured to the nearby grocery store to pick up something for dinner in case the rain didn’t let up. Luckily, it did and we walked back up to the marina for Music at the Harbor. It was a gorgeous night and we only snipped at each other a little (really this is good). I also got a huge waffle cone full of berry crisp ice cream so I was in heaven.

Sunday it rained and rained and rained all morning so we holed up. C found some magazines to peruse in the pile that was left on the coffee table and we made breakfast and coffee around noon. The sun actually started to peak out so we hurried to get our running shoes on. It was ridiculously windy, but the run felt good. We went into Lexington and explored and then came back to the cottage. We walked back to Uri’s for dinner and sat and talked. We walked around and ended up on the fishing part of the marina where I laid down at the end to watch the clouds move. It was still really windy so it was a good evening for it. Unfortunately, C doesn’t find the excitement in this so I didn’t get to just hang out for an hour. I talked C into more ice cream, this time I got butter pecan…OMG YUM! I really could care less about the food, ice cream for dinner would have suited me just fine.

Today we got up and ran and then leisurely packed our bags. Here are some pics I took. There weren’t many…

rialeilani

I had ice cream for dinner.  And it wasn’t low-fat or vanilla.  It was full-fat death by chocolate.  And I refuse to feel guilty.

I told Naggy -  that’s what I call the part of my brain that makes me feel bad for eating good tasting things -  to shut the f*ck up for once.

Usually, to satisfy myself and not give Naggy too much room to complain, I’ll grab the smallest bowl out of the cupboard.  I’m not joking when I say it’s small, it holds one scoop of ice cream.  But last night, ohhh sweet, chocolately last night, I grabbed a “big boy” bowl and had 3 scoops plus a spoon full.  I sat down in the chair at the table and slowly ate my dinner.  It was all delicious until I bit into a hard part and had to chew the almonds that are in it.

Oh – wait- did I forget to tell you why I decided to eat ice cream for dinner?

Funny story…I was sparring with my dad.  It’s great sparring with my dad, he kicks me and I learn how to get the f*uck out of the way.  I’m sure later in my training I’ll be fast enough to strike back but for now it’s all about not getting attacked repeatedly (because pads or not, it stings a little).  One round kick, that was meant for my chest pad, caught me in the chin.  Yep, I must have leaned into it, not unlikely because I haven’t trained myself to automatically lean backwards yet.   Ok so my chin you’re thinking, “that must have hurt”.  Yeah I’m not going to lie it hurted a little but what really took the blow was the right side of my jaw :p  Hence, the pain when I had to chew the almonds of my yummy chocolate goodness.  I woke myself up last night, I must have been clenching my jaw or grinding my teeth, not sure which one.

Luckily, it’s feeling better today, I can chew at least.  I was worried because if it hurt to chew how would I eat?!  And eating is one of my favorite things to do!  And now I have until Monday to recover.  Phew!

Seriously, I recommend eating ice cream for dinner though…YUM