Weekending | Relaxation & Super Bowl

You know it was a good weekend when you don't get around to recapping it until Wednesday evening :) We can blame it on the very late night on Sunday!

On Fridays we can wear jeans at work so I took the opportunity to also wear my Tom Brady jersey! I got quite a few high fives and "hey nice jersey!" comments while walking in the Upper-EL hallway. I told Thomas if the Pats won I was going to treat myself to a new jersey. Which is long overdue in my opinion seeing as this one is over TEN years old! 

We had a pretty low key Friday night, catching up on the DVR, reading, and treating myself to an at-home spa night! I'm a huge fan of the Sephora masks and if you haven't already, you should check them out!

We slept in Saturday morning, which was very needed after being out of town last weekend, and then we spent the afternoon doing our typical weekend chores. Later that afternoon we met up with our friends and head to downtown Milford to check out a new-to-us brewery, River's Edge Brewing Co, and grabbed dinner at Palate. Both places were awesome! From there we met up with my girlfriends and their significant others at Drafting Table Brewing Co where we enjoyed chatting and listening to the live band playing.

Sunday was all about the Superbowl. I have been a diehard Patriots fan since 2003 and couldn't have ask for a better game! Seriously, what a game! I was rocking back and forth for the entire fourth quarter. We watched it at Thomas' cousin's house and had a great time catching up with them and enjoying all of the delicious food. It definitely lead to a late night, but it was well worth it ;) Now I need to order that jersey!

This has been quite the week at work; long meetings, sore throats, hectic schedule. BUT there are only five days until our 5 day Mid-Winter Break and I can't wait!

Weekending | Grand Rapids

Just like that it's Monday again. The first one of February at that! Time continues to fly by. As always, we had a great weekend visiting our old stomping grounds in Grand Rapids.

Our first stop shouldn't be a surprise to anyone.. Founders. You can't go to Grand Rapids without stopping by Founders. This week they had an event called Cellar Raid so the boys were able to get beers they haven't had in a long time, including the coveted KBS. I, on the other hand, enjoyed my favorite BLT sandwich of all time. That alone was worth the two hour drive ;)

Saturday morning we decided to check out a new Donut shop in Eastown, D'Arts Donut Shop before the girls and I headed to the bridal shop to try on bridesmaid dresses. I'm not sure that was the best breakfast choice, but delicious none-the-less.

By the time we were done at the bridal salon everyone was hungry again so we met the boys at one of our favorite GR restaurants, Rockwell Republic. It just so happened to be happy hour, so I enjoyed two Spicy California Rolls. They are the best!

Later that afternoon we headed to Perrin Brewing Company, which is about twenty minutes North of town, for their Winter Festival. That's how Michiganders survive the brutal winters- outdoor beer festivals! The boys enjoyed the beer and I enjoyed the hot chocolate. Not a bad way to spend the day.

We ended our trip with a night at a new brewery; Creston Brewery. I'm not exaggerating when I say that every time we have visited since moving away there has been at least one new brewery to check out. This one did not disappoint. They have a Mexican style menu and Thomas enjoyed his beer.

Now it's back to the grind, but it's always nice to visit our favorite city. Until next time Grand Rapids!

Traverse City Ale Trail | Rare Bird Brewery

By the time we reached the next stop on The TC Ale Trail, Rare Bird, it was getting pretty late and my trail companions were quite tipsy. Rare Bird was a very laid back atmosphere, with live music and dimmed lights. An awesome place if you're looking to unwind!

Weekend Recap | It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

The most wonderful time of the year is officially here and we had a great weekend to kick it off!

Friday night we headed out with friends to Wixom for their "big" Holiday Festival... It was a little lackluster, but we still had a good time checking out all of the booths. Once we had had enough of the festival, we grabbed dinner at Wixom Station and then ended the night at Drafting Table Brewing Company where we watched my Western Michigan Broncos win the MAC Championship! ROW THE BOAT!

We spent Saturday evening with Thomas' parents and had a great time. This year we decided to gift our parents "activities with us" instead of typical gifts and I think we might make it a tradition. We started the evening with dinner at ROAK Brewing Company, where we had delicious pizza and Thomas enjoyed a beer flight.

Next up was Wild Lights at the Detroit Zoo, which was awesome! It was our first time going and we loved it. I could see it becoming a tradition.

Traverse City Ale Trail | The Workshop Brewing Company

The next stop on the TC Ale Trail was The Workshop Brewing Company. It is hands down the strangest brewery I've ever been to. I guess we should've known walking in..

... what do you think they were going for with their decor? Despite the awkward atmosphere, the live band wasn't bad, they had a handful of fun "bar games", and the food wasn't bad. We all shared the nachos and a flight of beer. Neither were bad, but also nothing to write home about. To be honest this was probably my least favorite stop of the night.

Traverse City Ale Trail | North Peak Brewing Company

North Peak Brewing Company was our next stop on the TC Ale Trail. I think this was my favorite stop on the trail. Due to the time constraint we only had time to split a flight (water for me), but the atmosphere was great and even though we didn't have time to try it; the food menu looked delicious. It was a brewery that felt more like a restaurant than a bar and had a lot of families enjoying dinner while we were there. It's on my list to visit again the next time we're up in Traverse City.

Traverse City Ale Trail | Jolly Pumpkin

Our next stop on the Traverse City Ale Trail was Jolly Pumpkin. This brewery was the most difficult one to get to as it is 25 minutes up the Peninsula and far away from all of the other trail stops. This would be extremely difficult if you were doing the trail by bicycle. We didn't have time to enjoy the outdoor seating area/patio, but we plan to go back one day to check it out. Thomas said that their beers are typically very sour, but he enjoyed the one he had this time. I was a fan of how they stored their mug club mugs :) The food menu looked awesome too. Jolly Pumpkin actually started in Dexter/Ann Arbor and that location is on our brewery list to check out one day as well.

Weekend Recap | Labor Day Weekend

Why can't every weekend be a holiday weekend? I wanted to take full advantage of my four day weekend and we did just that!

Friday | T and I headed towards Grand River Brewery in Jackson, but first stopped at my work so that I could show him the town, buildings, and where I go everyday. The brewery was nice and the weather was beautiful. Our next stop was the oldest Cider Mill in Michigan, Dexter Cider Mill. We each got a spiced donut and shared some cider. Both were delicious! We headed back to our apartment, took a little nap, and then headed to the gym. Leg day was a killer so we spent a few minutes in the sauna afterwards. The rest of the evening we watched the Michigan State football game.

Traverse City Ale Trail | Brewery Terra Firma

The next stop on the TC Ale Trail was Brewery Terra Firma, which is Michigan's first agricultural brewery. The boys ordered a flight of 8 beers here and were blown away. They couldn't stop talking about these beers for days! They said that the beers tasted so fresh and you could really taste the different ingredients. When you pull up you can see the hops growing behind the building and then for the rest of their ingredients they use local. This brewery also hosts Vinyl nights and has an entire room floor to ceiling with vinyl records, which would be awesome.

Traverse City Ale Trail | Right Brain Brewery

I mentioned in our camping trip recap that the first day we had an ambitious goal of completing the TC Ale Trail in one evening. We were determined! This "trail" is comprised of 8 breweries in Traverse City. Unfortunately they're pretty spread out (one is 25 minutes up the peninsula!) and since we were doing it on a weeknight a few locations closed at 10pm. These two factors really put us on a time constraint, but like I said, we were determined and it paid off! With only minutes to spare we completed it :)

Our first stop was Right Brain Brewery. Right brain is the perfect name for this brewery, because it is weird! More of a warehouse with random, strange art everywhere. There were a few games to play, but we didn't have time to hang out. Not to mention there's a hair salon right next door with glass walls... They also sell a tank that says "beer bitch" if that suits your fancy ;) All of this to say that it was still a cool place and it'd be a great place for ! Everyone ordered a beer and we split a cheese board appetizer before heading to the next stop.

Camping Trip | Day 3

Days three and four of our camping trip focused on one thing: Michigan's natural beauty! After writing this post I decided to break these two days into their own posts since there are so many pictures :)

Thursday morning we had a pontoon boat reservation so we headed into Munising, which was only a 25 minute drive from our campground, for the day. Unfortunately when we got there we discovered that the waves on Lake Superior were too choppy and therefore we couldn't take the boat near Pictured Rocks. However, we still were able to go out and cruise around Lake Superior! Lake Superior is breathtaking and easily our favorite Great Lake now. We spent a few hours cruising around and even beached it so that we could get out in the water!

Camping Trip | Days 1 & 2

Last week we headed up north for a week of camping, hiking, and breweries. It was our first time to the Upper Peninsula and we had an awesome time! I'm going to break the trip up into four separate posts and today I'm recapping the first two days.

Thomas and I headed north Tuesday afternoon. Our first destination was our friend's family cabin on Torch Lake. As soon as we arrived we dropped our bags off and headed to Traverse City. That evening we completed the TC Ale Trail, which is 8 breweries, in just over four hours! It was crazy and I'll write a separate recap for that. Once we got back to Torch Lake we hung out for a few hours before calling it a night.

GR Beer City Ale Trail | B.O.B.'s Brewery

Next up on the Beer City Ale Trail is BOB's Brewery. Located in the basement of The B.O.B. (Big ole Building), BOB's Brewery is a great low key hangout. It's not as popular as some other GR breweries and therefore the hours reflect that. As of now, the brewery is only open Thursday-Saturday evenings. However, you can still get their beer on tap at any of the restaurants inside The B.O.B. Thomas' favorite beer here is the Peanut Butter Porter.

For those of you who are locals or visit frequently we'd highly recommend getting the mug club here! Thomas is a mug club member and not only does he receive at least $1 off every beer, they also have $4 growler fills and BOGO Dr. Grin's comedy tickets! You can't beat that when the membership only costs $25 for a lifetime!

Founders Brewing Company Tour + Tasting

Once we decided that we were going to have a staycation in Grand Rapids to celebrate our fourth wedding anniversary I knew that I wanted to do something new and something Thomas would really enjoy. So what's better than a tour + tasting at our favorite local brewery, Founders? I purchased the tickets, $30 each, and hoped that Thomas would be on board (we're there all the time after all..). Our tour was on Wednesday evening and blew every expectation out of the water.

The tour began in a "classroom" where we met the other 10 attendees and surprisingly only 3 of us were Michiganders, which I think is awesome and shows how big Founders is! After introductions we watched a quick promo video and then headed off to the production facility. One of the most fascinating things about Founders is that they produce every single one of their beers at this location, one block in Grand Rapids, MI. They produce over 500,000 barrels every year and are available in 47 states and 23 countries. That is mind blowing! Also mind blowing is the fact that they don't have ANY storage space, so they operate on a one order in one order out.

We learned the history; they started under the name Canal Street Brewing Co, the meanings behind the beer names, and that they almost filed for bankruptcy twice. We saw the bottling line, canning line, and keg-ing line. We spent over an hour walking through and it is very apparent that when they added the expansion they had these tours in mind. It was such a amazingly planned out tour with murals and diagrams.

Once we had finished the tour we headed back to the classroom where the tasting started. We sampled seven beers: Dirty Bastard, Rubaeus, Porter, Sumatra Brown, Red's Rye IPA, All Day IPA, and the highly coveted KBS as our surprise tasting. KBS just so happened to be on tap that week so Thomas was actually able to enjoy a few of them! Our Education Ambassador explained the history behind each beer and while I don't like beer I did taste each one :) Our tasting took about 45 minutes and at the end we were given a couple vouchers for a beer in the taproom and stickers. On our way back to the taproom we walked through the offices, conference rooms, etc. and even those were very impressive!

We were so blown away by this tour. Thomas has been to a couple brewery tours and said the others didn't even compare! We highly recommend that anyone visiting or living in Grand Rapids should check it out.  It is well worth the $30 price tag, even if you visit the taproom often.

Weekend Recap | Moving & Final Visitors

I am in denial that July is already half way over.... Where does the time go?! We had another amazing, albeit crazy jam packed weekend.

On Friday we picked up a U-Haul and then packed in 90% of our boxes. That evening my brother and his girlfriend, Sarah, arrived in town for a weekend of breweries and "hip Grand Rapids" aka the stuff my grandparents aren't interested in ;). We headed to Perrin Brewing, where we started our brewery tour and ate dinner. From there we headed to The BOB for the comedian show at Dr. Grin's. It was by far the best comedy show we've seen there! We all had such a great time. Once the show was over we headed to GRBC and then closed down Founders.

Saturday morning came early, but we grabbed some breakfast before hitting up Grand Rapids Coffee Roaster's Saturday Experience where you get to enjoy free coffee, espressos, and americanos. After everyone was hyped up on coffee we headed to Millennium Park with hopes of paddle boarding. Unfortunately, all of the paddle boards were checked out so we decided to kayak instead. After we got our workout in for the day we needed lunch, so we stopped at Blue Dog. We headed back to the house for a quick nap before hitting up Brewery Vivant and Le Bon Macaroons. Next up was dinner at The Mitten Brewing Co, where we enjoyed a pizza flight :) Our final stop for the night (and trip) was Founders for the Saved by the 90's concert. They are a 90's cover band and were awesome!

We were up at 6:30am Sunday morning and spent the entire day packing, loading up the truck, driving to our storage unit, and unloading. It was a longggg day and we couldn't have done it without our friends or my in-laws! I also feel like Duke deserves a shoutout for being the best copilot :)

GR Beer City Ale Trail | New Holland Brewing Company

Last month while we were in Holland for the Tulip Time Festival we stopped at New Holland Brewing Company, another brewery on the GR Beer City Ale Trail, for an appetizer and drinks. Thomas got a flight with 6 beers and we shared the Pepperoni Pinwheels appetizer. The pinwheels were delicious, they're basically like pizza rolls, and way bigger than we were expecting. New Holland is expanding this fall and opening a location in Grand Rapids, which I'm sure will be awesome as well!