Michigan Love Monday

World Clothes Line is taking center stage in today’s Michigan Love Monday with the delivery of their Detroit Donations (shown in the video above.) If you haven’t heard me rave about them before they are a company in Michigan that matches any purchase you make with an equal donation.  Amazing right? They are having a Charity night this Wednesday March, 2^nd click here for more info! I love that this is a compay from Michigan giving back to our community as well as others who are in need. The force is strong with them.

P.S. Does anyone know the song playing? I LOVE it!

Sushi Sunday

The boys and I have a tradition: sushi Sunday. Not every Sunday anymore, but at least once a month. It started with my desire to have them try more things and my other desire to eat more sushi. (Isn’t being a parent fun? I love watching the world unfold for my kids.)

We also have a rule: you can't say you don't like it until you try it. I made them try sushi. They grumbled and complained; “I’m not hungry” “Yuck!” “You want me to eat what?” then they tried it and, lo and behold, they loved it. Weird, how sometimes your mom knows what she is talking about, hmmm? (I tried the same thing with Mediterranean food but they didn't take to it. Makes me sad, I love hummus.)

We gave making our own a whirl and it turned out great!

Nothing wild or crazy; carrots, cucumber, crab, rice and sesame seeds. The kids loved them!

White out!

We've been blasted with snow this month and we're supposed to get 7 more inches tonight. If that indeed happens we will have a new record for the most snow in February (or so I heard). The boys don't mind though and if school gets cancelled, even better! I've started a list of things we will do: hot cocoa, snow angels, painting, and laundry...

Too cute not to share.

Detroit: 7th Most Liveable City

Michigan Love

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The 2011 Liveablility Ranking and Overview was released this month. It takes 140 cities and ranks them based on thirty indicators in five categories: stability; healthcare; culture and environment; education; and infrastructure.

I cannot begin to express my shock that Detroit is ranked #7 in the Top 10 Most Liveable Cities in the U.S. Especially, after being ranked 3^rd Worst City to Live In by Walletpop in 2010, Most Stressfully City in America in 2010 by Portfolio.com, America’s Most Miserable City in 2008 by Forbes, Fattest City in 2004 according to Men’s Health (we worked our way down to #27 in 2010) and don’t forget highest unemployment rate, well, by everyone for years.

While I do not live in Detroit proper but a suburb, putting it down is a direct reflection of my state and I am very proud to live in Michigan. So finally having a report that says it's a "livable city" is fantastic! I am not saying it’s been all double rainbows and unicorns; it has been struggle just to survive. I think that is exactly what makes the people here so fantastic. It is hard to watch the people you love lose their jobs, homes, everything they have ever worked for but we keep going. We lament with our friends and start clubs (we started an unemployment club with my just my friends, we had nine members; there were fifteen of us total) and pick each other up when we get knocked down. Not to be too cheesy but that Chrysler commercial has it right “The hottest fires make the strongest steal.” That’s what Michigan is, a steal maker. It is making the strongest generation of Michiganders this state has ever seen. We are proud, we are driven, we are caring and we have a core of steal. We are the whole idea of cool.

Arrow Love

Connor wanted to make arrows for his Valentine's day gift to his class. I thought that was a great idea so we found pencils and then went through some tough design decisions; paper or feathers, painted bands or no-bands, sharpened or not, glued or cut? We tried a few variations and decided on one that was easy (my #1 requirement) and looked like a valentine arrow.

Connor working hard. After we attached the paper heart to the pencil with some sparkly glue, he wrote a little note on each one and we added bands to a few.

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These would have been a great Valentine's Day gift but I got something even better. The boys made me a heart pencil arrow with a poem on it. Jamie tried to recite it but Con had to help as he kept forgetting the words. It was precious!

valentine's day

work totally loves me...

Happy Valentines Day!

It’s that time of year again, Painfully Single Awareness day, also known as Valentine’s Day for those of you in relationships. The truth of the matter is that I’m a hopeless romantic and I think that is why I have such a strong aversion to this day. Love is something that should be celebrated every day and being single on this day sucks extra. To combat the relative suckiness of this day, last year I decided that I would pick my valentine from someone completely unattainable who could be admired from afar (my tv) without the creepy stalker connotations, Sam Worthington, *sigh* be still my beating heart. This year’s valentine, after careful consideration and barely concealed adoration, is:


Wait for it…

That's right, Jake Gyllenhaal *sigh*...
If I could ever meet him in real life I think I’d die a happy woman. Here’s to dreaming…

Purple Octopus

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Seriously, how cute is this little guy? Discovered in 2010, this purple cutie is potentially a whole new species of octopi.

Weddings and Babies

This week has the making of greatness and it’s only Tuesday! Yesterday one of my bestie’s told me that she finally picked a day for her wedding, June 25th of this year, and asked me to be in it. Of course I would love to be in your wedding you silly girl! The scale of awesomeness continues to rise as today is my sisters due date. Baby Ellie is due today!!! I mentioned to her that it would be soooo cool if she was born on Valentine’s Day (6 days AFTER her due date) to which my sister emphatically replied “No!”


Here are a few reasons she should be born on Valentine's Day against my sisters wishes:
She would always get presents
She would wear lots of reds and pinks (if she's anything like her sister this will apply anyway)

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She would always have a valentine and get these cute things:

Her middle name could be Romance, Amore, Adore, Rose, Heart or Valentine. I have a weakness for awesome/unusual middle names. My youngest son's middle name is Danger. True story.