Weekend Staycations
I think I like the idea of a staycation, but I am way too restless to stay in my house for too long. I'll end up cleaning and organizing the whole place (not that it doesn't need it). We travel so much on the weekends that I've considered the last few weekends at home staycations of sorts. We've essentially been home for four straight weekends (potentially a new world record for us), and we've gotten to discover all the fun things we can do in our adopted hometown.
This is random, but a few weekends ago we had some friends over for dinner and bought our dinner meat at Mert's Specialty Meats. We've been hearing about Mert's for a while, and it turns out it's awesome. Maybe that doesn't seem like a fun thing to do on the weekend, but we love 1) entertaining and 2) food (not necessarily in that order), and their pork chops were delicious. Don't even get me started on the deliciousness of bacon and blue cheese stuffed burgers. I was the 1995 West Virginia State FFA meat judging champion (true thing), so I know good meat when I see it (insert joke here). Seriously - that's a true story, and we are now Mert's addicts. If it weren't for these weekends at home we probably still would not have discovered Mert's awesomeness.
I'm now fully immersed in training for the Marine Corps Marathon, so my Saturday mornings start with a long run. Last weekend I ran 10 miles on a beautiful morning along the Grand River on Michigan State's campus. I've got three months of training to go, but if every run was like the last few, it will be a good few months.
After my run we attended the World Dwarf Games at Michigan State (seriously - that's also a thing). We've known about the games for a while, so we thought we'd check it out. We went on track and field day, and it turns out that it's really an incredibly inspiring event. There are not just adults competing - there were also children. There was a running category for kids six and under. That's so young - and these kids were rocking it out. One heat had a young (under six) child who freaked out and ran back into his mom's arms at the starting line. It was adorable. This crowd and these contestants were just awesome. We were so touched by the event, and it was great to have competitors and families from all over the world converge on the Lansing area. The World Dwarf Games...who knew?
Later in the day we headed to Old Town Lansing for JazzFest. We'd never been to this free event in one of Lansing's coolest neighborhoods, so we headed out with one of our friends. We were invited to a reception that featured the owner (and he's a sommelier) from the newly reopened Zoobies Old Town Tavern. We had great wine and a really fun time. I haven't been to Zoobies yet, but everyone I know has been raving about it. I plan to rectify that situation later this week.
On our way out of Old Town we popped into this cool and quirky store - Love, Betti. Speaking of love, I am now in love with this awesome store. The furniture was gorgeous, and it was filled with tons of fun accessories, clothes, and lots of eclectic gifts and items. We will be back to buy a well priced console radio because we are that weird.
It is hard to beat delicious meat, wine, cocktails, quirky wares and athletic events, so Sundays are filled with more sedate things like grocery shopping and yard work. It's been strange for us to be home so many weekends in a row, but it's been nice to just enjoy the greater Lansing area for a change. I don't imagine, however, that this weekend staycation trend will continue. Where should we go next?
This is random, but a few weekends ago we had some friends over for dinner and bought our dinner meat at Mert's Specialty Meats. We've been hearing about Mert's for a while, and it turns out it's awesome. Maybe that doesn't seem like a fun thing to do on the weekend, but we love 1) entertaining and 2) food (not necessarily in that order), and their pork chops were delicious. Don't even get me started on the deliciousness of bacon and blue cheese stuffed burgers. I was the 1995 West Virginia State FFA meat judging champion (true thing), so I know good meat when I see it (insert joke here). Seriously - that's a true story, and we are now Mert's addicts. If it weren't for these weekends at home we probably still would not have discovered Mert's awesomeness.
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| Celebrating meat judging awesomeness in 1995 |
After my run we attended the World Dwarf Games at Michigan State (seriously - that's also a thing). We've known about the games for a while, so we thought we'd check it out. We went on track and field day, and it turns out that it's really an incredibly inspiring event. There are not just adults competing - there were also children. There was a running category for kids six and under. That's so young - and these kids were rocking it out. One heat had a young (under six) child who freaked out and ran back into his mom's arms at the starting line. It was adorable. This crowd and these contestants were just awesome. We were so touched by the event, and it was great to have competitors and families from all over the world converge on the Lansing area. The World Dwarf Games...who knew?
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| Awards ceremony at the games |
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| With my girlfriend at JazzFest |
It is hard to beat delicious meat, wine, cocktails, quirky wares and athletic events, so Sundays are filled with more sedate things like grocery shopping and yard work. It's been strange for us to be home so many weekends in a row, but it's been nice to just enjoy the greater Lansing area for a change. I don't imagine, however, that this weekend staycation trend will continue. Where should we go next?
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