Fam Love

These pics are a little old- my fault.  But, I couldn't help posting them cause them make me smile.  We had a little family b-day celebration for myself and my Uncle Howard back in March.

Birthday buddies

Uncle Howard receives a classic Dad gift.

Molly definitely enjoyed the party.

So did Henry.

And, of course, my Mom had to cause trouble by introducing this bizarre game into the mix.

Purchased at the dollar store, naturally.

You push the guys down and when they pop back up, you try to catch them in the air with the handled baskets.  

So basically, these pointy, plastic projectiles exploding in your face as you try frantically to catch them.

My mom was never one to worry too much about things like "putting your eye out."  Usually, she is encouraging someone to do something wildly inappropriate- like "hey, if you put Grandma's wig on and let me take a picture of it, I'll pay you a dollar" type things.  OR, she is trying to light something on fire- seriously!  The lady is a pyro.

Needless to say, I love her.

Henry and I didn't do to bad, but Hen was definitely better at it than I.

XOXO

Birthday Party World Part 2: Dinner at Roast, Ghost Hunting (and dessert) at the Whitney!

We went downtown to celebrate on my actual birthday, March 2nd.  3/2 is a great birthday to have, since I get to share it with Mikhail Gorbechov, Jon Bon Jovi and my favorite, Dr. Seuss!

Two great Detroit institutions, one new and one old, were the spots we went to have dinner and dessert.

HERE...

...AND HERE!

But, beforehand, I stopped by my mom's for some birthday love (aka, presents)!

This greeted me at the door...

...and these were waiting for me inside.

An El Camino & a crown- she knows me well.

Then, it was time to head downtown.  And since we were going out on the town, we had to get a little fancy!

Black and white clad robots.

We started with dinner at Roast, which is in the historic Book Cadillac Hotel (or as it's called now, the Westin).  Roast is a great place if you are a carnivore and love you some meat.  Which makes it not the greatest spot for vegetarians...especially cause of stuff like this.

My mom was as little scared of of the pig, but Jaclyn and Kara didn't seem to mind!

Neither did we!

Shot inside the gorgeous lobby of the Book Cadillac.

After dinner, it was on to dessert at the Whitney.  It was my first time there, and I really, really loved it.  The house is that compelling combination of very beautiful, very historic, and very creepy.  It's definitely one of those places where you can actually feel the age of the house when you are inside.

If you look very closely, you can see a mural above the mantel of a child shooting another child.  Weird.

More on exploring the Whitney later, but first- dessert!

Carrot cake

Some delicious strawberry thing.

Peanut butter chocolate cake.

It was delicious and it made us really happy!

After we ate, we did some exploring.  At the Whitney, you can pretty much go anywhere inside the house.  The first floor is the restaurant area, but almost all the rooms on the second and third floors are open to the public.

It was really fun to walk around, open doors, look inside the rooms and take photos.  However, it also made me a little worried, like how would the staff know if people were doing stuff they weren't supposed to be doing- like smoking cigarettes in Mrs. Whitney's former bedroom (which is what happened when we were there).

I'm not trying to be the fun police or anything, but the Whitney is one of the few truly beautiful and historic houses left in the city that hasn't fallen to ruin and has been somewhat able to retain it's grandure.  I just hope that people realize and respect what a rare treasure it is and how lucky the city is that the house is still standing.

To learn more about the Whitney, go HERE.

We spent a lot of time on the second and third floors, trying not to run into any ghosts.  There was interesting stuff everywhere we looked...

...some of it was a little creepy.

Check out the reflection of this painting in the mirror.

We found this in a closet.  It probably wants to kill you in your sleep.

But the majority of what we saw was just unbelievably beautiful.

My mom said that when she was touring the house, she really felt like she could see flashes of how it looked back at the turn of the century.*
*Kind of like in Titanic, when they intersperse shots of the ship sunk at the bottom of the ocean with shots of the ship when it was first built and all beautiful.  Yes, a Titanic reference.  What can I say- I love that movie!  I was 17 when it came out.  I really didn't have a choice!

Thanks to CJ, my Mom, my sister Kara, my SIL Jaclyn and of course, Detroit, for making my birthday truly special.  I love you guys! xo

Donuts. Is there anything they can't do?

Truer words were never spoken, and by Homer Simpson no less!

I make no secret of the fact that I am totally, completely obsessed with donuts (or "cop vitamins", as a special Detective friend of mine calls them).

I'll take them however I can get them- I don't discriminate.  Plain, chocolate, cider mill style, paczki, glazed, peanut covered- whatever!

One of my fondest memories of my wedding is eating day old donuts leftover from our "donut cake" out of a garbage bag* the morning after our reception with my husband.  Ah, happiness.  May you all know such true bliss in your own marriages!

*For the record, it was a CLEAN garbage bag.  It was just the only receptacle available to store them in!

ANYWAY, given my obsession, this post is very serious, because it involves what I believe are the best donut holes in the Detroit metro area.  And notice I said donut HOLES people- we're not talking regular donuts.  If we were, we would be discussing Dutch Girl Donuts, but that is a subject for another post...

How much do you really love donuts holes?  Enough to go here?!

That's right people.  Detroit Donut.  Warren, Michigan.  Right off I-696, at the Hoover/Schoenherr exit.  You can get some donut holes AND gas up your car.  Yes, its also a gas station.

You have to order the cinnamon sugar!

Eating them on the back of a Chevy is optional, but strongly encouraged.


PS- Shout out to my Mom, who first introduced me to these awesome treats!

Kids + Detroit Pistons = Crazy Fun

Hey All!  Below is guest post from my lovely Mom about her recent adventure accompanying some students and teachers from her school to trip to a Piston's game!  My Mom is a school psychologist at a center program for kids with disabilities in Warren, Michigan.  Check out her post about all the crazy fun the kids had watching Deee-troit Basketball!
-xo, Lauren

On Tuesday I helped chaperone some of our students at a Valentine’s Day Piston’s game – a first for me and for most of the kids. What a blast! There was music, a drum corp, cheerleaders, dancing ushers, the kiss cam, a giant disco ball, a cool R&B halftime show, a tumbling crew, lots of cotton candy, a marriage proposal – oh yeah, AND some great basketball! 

I was a little nervous because earlier in the day I had read something online that said “Streaking Spurs take on lowly Pistons” and was hoping for the kids’ sake that it wouldn’t be a complete blow out. We were not disappointed!!!  The Pistons played great and were even in the lead a minute or two before the final buzzer.  Ultimately, we lost, but it was a real nail biter and we were all hoarse the next morning from cheering and screaming our heads off!

Our seats were free – thanks Piston’s management (no one even got a nosebleed)!

Group shot of the kids!!

On the left, Michael and his Valentines - Miss Nicole and Miss Helen.

On the right, friends Christopher and Anna with some Humana swag.

Antonio (basketball fan extraordinaire) watches the game, while Austin watches everything else but!

On the left, Sean (in Piston’s colors) checking out the action.

On the right, the beautiful and sassy Elizabeth (who I at first alarmingly thought was sitting next to the scary stage hand from Letterman but who turned out to be our nice, go-with-the-flow bus driver).

                 

On the left, Miss Karen and on the right, Miss Andrea, who along with fellow teachers Miss Helen and Miss Nicole - skipped spending Valentine’s evening with their families so their students could go to the game.

*Note and shameless bragging – our teachers regularly go the extra mile by raising money and donating their time so our students can attend special events such as this game,  Special Olympics,  camp, etc.  Helen and Andrea both wrote and received grants this year for their classrooms (do you know how hard it is to write a stupid grant!).  This weekend, Helen and several of our other teachers will freeze their butts off by participating in the Polar Plunge on Belle Isle to raise money for Special Olympics. Our teachers are the best!

The boys make some noise!!!!!

After the game, the drum corp performed in the lobby and then graciously let our students make some music (and by that I mean really loud noise) using their drums sets and giant cymbals. The kids felt super cool and it was an awesome end to a great night.

The Piston’s are definitely on the rise (as evidenced by the fact that they beat a well rested, #2 in their division Celtics on their home court the very next night!...and I know this because of my NBA tutor, Antonio) - so get on out to a game if you have the chance!