maize + blue.

Oh what a weekend. There is simply no place like Ann Arbor in the fall. Mix in Val, Emily, Josh & Erin for a full weekend + donuts, football, Kilwins, the M Den, Mani, and the business school bus for post-game tail-gating and you've got the fixings for some epic pictures/videos and a great time. We played a lot of flip-cup in an 8 hour stretch and dance moves were busted out spontaneously. It was an all-around good time!

in the house.

I am off to Ann Arbor for the weekend. It is the now-annual DC pilgrimage to the Big House and my first visit out to Ben this semester. We will have a full house of visitors which means donuts, tail-gating, football, Mani and good good times! Go Blue - have a great weekend!

second annual.

It was a whirlwind of a weekend. Ben hosted the second annual DC pilgrimage to the Big House. I missed last year's weekend, but fortunately, Emily, Erin and Josh made the trek to Ann Arbor for round two this year! It was a short but packed weekend.

We arrived late Friday night and got an early start on Saturday. Naturally, our first stop was the Washtenaw Dairy (click here and here for background) for game day donuts. Erin confirmed that the donuts exceeded her expectations. We paired the donuts by loading up on eggs and carbs at Afternoon Delight for breakfast!

After breakfast, we moved on to tailgate and over to the Big House. I am happy to report that I made it beyond just the gates and finally had my first Michigan football game.

Not just that, but it turned out to be a gorgeous day and a phenomenal come-from-behind win over Northwestern. Unbelievable actually!

Post-game, we headed to Bill's Beer Garden which just opened a couple weeks ago. It was fantastic...with fire pits around and good beer!

Obviously, we headed to Mani for dinner. Ben's regular status came up big on this parent's weekend and we snagged a table. The pizza (and steak) were spot on.

 We capped the night off with a stop at Kilwin's for good measure.

 

In sum, we basically ate a lot this weekend. Sunday was no exception. We headed over to the Broken Egg for more eggs and coffee to recover.  We did add some culture to our weekend and went to see Sky Fall so Ben could obsess over men's suits. We finished the day with some more football and some healthy fish for dinner before Josh and Erin headed to the airport. 

As a last hoorah and to make sure we finished strong, Ben, Emily and I did head back to the Washtenaw Dairy for milkshakes. 

And now, time to detox from the eating, drinking, football, and overall great weekend!

rock paper scissors.

Ben took me by this new store in Ann Arbor, Rock Paper Scissors.

Great store and I loved these bags they were selling, I think I am going to try and make my own for gifts.

And I absolutely adore this framed Michigan alphabet. I just want someone who is a big Michigan person to get pregnant so we can give this as a baby gift!

go blue.

This was a big weekend for Ben and me. We have passed through a lot of the relationship-dating milestones but one has been lingering and the point of this weekend was to get beyond it...I was finally going to see my first game in the Big House, and against Michigan State no less!

We set the weekend up perfectly. I got in late Friday night after work and started our Saturday morning early. First, we swung by Washtenaw Dairy for donuts (see here for a previous post to understand the glory of these donuts). Yes, they had game day sprinkles and if I had the time, I would just sit in there for hours. The Washtenaw Dairy is a moment in time and it might be my favorite place in Ann Arbor. 

We went and got coffee to eat with our donuts and then we wandered over to Chase Bank to open a joint savings account. One would think this would have been the relationship milestone in our weekend, but this was a sideshow to the big game!

We made a pit-stop in the M-Den to gear up and then got ourselves over to tailgate at Aaron and Brittany's place with Emmy, Charlie and a bunch of others. It was a gorgeous day...the perfect fall wet-nose cold!

And, there were fantastic Coney Island dogs for the taking...

Ben wanted to show me the Golf Course where thousands of people tailgate every game. So, we walked over there with Emmy in a rush before kick-off. I also took a lot of pictures of the leaves...

 

 

Pictures of my first Big House experience with Ben stop at this point. In a long story made short with some details left out, all you need to know is that the Michigan State Troopers are very serious about the spelling of your middle name on your student ID at Gate 2. We do not recommend trying to enter the Big House on that side of the stadium. Yes, I was escorted out of the stadium. On the upside, putting my driver's license down my pants when he wasn't looking turned out to be a good call since he couldn't give me a ticket. Didn't win the war but won that battle, eh?!

We sulked a little as any close couple would. We eventually regrouped and headed for the only possible comfort we could think of at Mani. We ate some of our depression away with pizza and beer. It did not help when Michigan won with a field goal at the end of the 4th...but we won't talk of that any longer. 

The weekend, despite this major (and I do mean major) disappointment, turned out to be great. Sunday morning we grabbed donuts again and then walked over to this beautiful spot that Ben had picked out and drank our coffee, listened to the water, ate our donuts, and sat in the morning sun. 

 

I had to catch a plane back to DC in the afternoon, so the weekend was short but very sweet.  

autumnal colors.

I visited Ann Arbor this weekend, and the fall colors were out in force. It seems Michigan is ahead of DC and the leaves were already falling. It was the perfect preview to get excited for the changing colors to come. I couldn't help but start listing in my head everything I love about the fall season...

to love about fall

crunchy leaves

apple cider

rain boots

apple picking
butternut squash soup

fleeces, coats, layers, boots & scarves
crisp air
dark nail polish
pumpkin flavor
colorful corn
the smell of fall
sleeping with the window open
driving through puddles