Summa, summa, summa time

Hey everyone!

I'm over guest posting for Kodie at One Day You Will sharing some summer essentials today!

Check it out here!

You came like the winds of March, with love in your eyes.

Do you ever have those months where it's all go-go-go and your super busy with super exciting things and people and places and you just can't wait to share everything but there honestly aren't enough days to write about it all? That was my January and February.

But do you ever have months where you still feel like everything is go-go-go, but in all reality, you're not really doing anything all that exciting except for cultivating a new relationship and occasionally cooking a meal and seeing your family and reading? That was my March.

March, by comparison, was boring.

Don't get me wrong. March was fun, and I'm pretty darn happy with where everything is right now (more on that later this week...) but every time I sat down to blog, I would rack my brain for what I did or something fun to share and I consistently came up with nothing.

April has lots of good things in store, so hopefully I'll get some mojo back, but for now, here's a pretty quick synopsis of the past four weeks:

I finally read The Hunger Games. I liked it, but was honestly a little disappointed/confused/shocked at the ending. But I've been told the 2nd and 3rd are better so I'll reserve judgement till after I read those.

I enjoyed some ridiculously unseasonable gorgeous days. It hit almost 90 a few days...in Michigan... in March. Unfortuntaely, it's back in the 40's and 50's and rainy at the moment, but I'll take it, cause honestly, I wasn't ready for summer in March lol

I did not become a millionaire. Womp womp.

And then there's this guy, who's been taking up quite a bit of my time lately, not that I'm complaining in the least :-)

What have ya'll be up to?
Fill me in, yo!

Deep beneath the cover of another perfect wonder, where it's so white as snow.

The other night I was driving home as it had just finished snowing and it was so peaceful I couldn't help but notice. There was no one out walking around, the snow was still clean and white and my neighborhood was abnormally quiet.


It's been a weird winter and all of the snow that fell is already gone. But it was fun, and pretty while it lasted.

Is there lots of snow where you live?
Do you enjoy the snow? Or wish it away? lol

Love was made for me and you.

Hey ya'll! I'm guest posting for Tanya at A Taste of T today. Go check my post out. It's funny. You'll laugh, I promise...well, I laughed but that doesn't always mean much, now does it?

Happy Wednesday everyone! I'm linking up with Jaime at this kind of love for What I'm Loving Wednesday!

I'm loving Franks Hot Sauce-have ya'll heard that commercial where the old lady is like "I put that s#*% on everything"?

Yea, that's me.

I'm loving the slightly overcast, mid 60's weather we've been having. I think Michigan has finally made up it's mind and has decided it fall-yay!

I'm loving cleaning out my closet/car and finding *literally* a whole wardrobes worth of clothes, including my fave sweats from high school.

And yes, I rocked them the next day.

I'm loving the sweet kids I babysat last Friday and will be babysitting again this weekend! I was talking with the girl about music videos and mentioned TRL (anyone else remember that show!?!?! haha). The look of confusion on her face when I explained what it was to her was priceless!

Way to make me feel old, kid!

I'm loving my sweet cousin who is getting married this weekend! I'm not going to the wedding, but I'll be there in spirit. I love love love my cousin and the girl he's marrying is such a sweetheart! I'm so happy for them and wish them a world of happiness!

What are you guys loving today?
And go read my post!

Simple things we say, everyday we find the way

I haven't linked up with Jesslyn Amber for a few weeks but I thought this was a good week to appreciate the Simple Things!

*live music*
*cool weather*
*hanging with my mom*
*old friends*
*fantasy football*
*September baseball*

What simple things are you enjoying this week? Go link up and share!

Love, for better or worse, I still will choose you first.

I'm linking up with Jaime at this kind of love for another What I'm Loving Wednesday!


I'm loving JV and my Tigers. Seriously, the game he threw on Sunday was so intense. And my Tigers looked good. I know Guillen posed running out of the box, but heading down the stretch I want my boys to have some swagger.

I'm loving making plans with friends! I just bought tickets to a concert in the beginning of September and I'm trying to get tickets to see the Lions first preseason game.

I'm loving my phone! I got the Droid Incredible 2 last week and it's the best! Do any of ya'll have Droids? Any good app suggestions?

I'm loving the rain-I'd rather it not be raining, but at least it breaks up the ridiculous heat wave we've been having! Us Michiganders aren't used to this!

I'm loving that I only have two weeks till I move! I have soooo much work to do but I'm so exicted!

What are you loving today?

Now I work down at the car wash, where all it ever does is rain.

Even though it's been much nicer here lately, I feel like for the entire past month, all it has done is rain. Literally. We had I think about 3 weeks where it rained every.single.day.

It was the wettest month for out county on record and many of the rivers overflowed. The one by my house was level with the park that it butts up against, but never actually flowed over (thank god!) A few of the parks that are below the water line got flooded and people were actually fishing in them! haha

I tried to go tanning one afternoon and the parking lot of the strip mall was completely flooded, as was the intersection the strip mall is at (which is of two decently large roads). I ended up going back the next morning because the grocery store is right across the street and snapped these pictures on my phone:

Swimming, anyone?


Like my Canadian flag, eh?

The best part of having torrential rain, is that when it finally stopped raining it was at least 95* for a week straight, meaning crazy humid. So basically we went from having tornado and flood warnings one week, to having a heat advisory the next.

Oh, Michigan, how I love thee.

When Ichiro goes, when Ichiro goes to the moon.

Last Wednesday, my dad and I travelled to Fabulous Ferndale to see The Baseball Project.


They are a "super group" comprised of Peter Buck of R.E.M. on bass, Steve McCaughy of the Minus 5 on guitar, Linda Pittmon on drums and Steve Wynn of the Dream Syndicate on guitar. Peter Buck didn't play when we saw them, but Mike Mills, who is also in R.E.M subbed in for him.

There was about 50 people there tops so the show was super small and intimate. We got there early and ended up being in the front row, which is always nice. They played all my favorite songs, including "Harvey Haddix" which is about a pitcher who almost threw a perfect game. They even gave a shoutout to Armando Gallaraga haha It was also Linda Pitmon's birthday so she requested they play "Twinkies", which is about her hometown team. They played about 2 hours (with no opening acts) and for their encore they played "Aw, shit man" by the Minus 5 and "Rockville" by R.E.M. It was definitely a lot of fun and even though the crowd was small, there was really good energy.

After the show, I went to buy a tee shirt and Steve McCaughy and Linda Pitmon were standing by the merch table signing autographs and talking to everyone so my dad and I talked with them and they each signed my shirt, meaning I won't be able to wear it now, but I'll save it and come up with something to do with it lol

My dad took the day off on Thursday, so that night my dad, my brother and I went to the CoPa and watched the Tigers beat the Mariners. My dad loves seeing Ichiro play so we always try and go when the Mariners are in town.


Unfortunately, Ichiro went 1-4 and only ended up catching one pop up, so it was a decidely un-Ichiro-like performance. The upside of that was Justin Verlander pitched through 8 innings, gave up one run and threw 10 k's. Not bad, not bad at all.


It had been threatening to rain all day, but luckily, it didn't. The temperature did, however, drop about 30* from the time the game started to the time it ended. Thank god I brought a hoodie! I was freezing! Just another June in Michigan haha

Oh, we're gonna get high and inside, high and inside

Since our hotel was right downtown, it was only about a 15 minute walk to PNC Park. We crossed over the Roberto Clemente Bridge,

grabbed some pizza (since we had only had ice cream for lunch lol) and grabbed our seats. We were able to get seats about 15 rows back from 3rd base, which was pretty sweet.

It was Free Shirt Friday, so we all got free shirts, which ended up coming in handy (for a few reasons)

Before the game started, we got to watch the players warm up

and the mascot mess with the reporter.

There were also players signing autographs...



Andrew McCutchen

Steve Pearce

who signed my shirt!

Woo hoo! I feel weird getting excited about autographs but I just can't help it haha

After I got my autograph, I got back up to our seats, and my mom was laughing so hard! I couldn't figure out why, but then she said "Oh my god, Amanda! When you were running down there, all I could think of was how you looked like a little guidette!"

I told her how happy I was to hear that and we both cracked up!

The game was fairly uneventful, untill about the third inning when it started raining. It had been cloudy all day, but we were hoping it would hold off-unfortunately, it didn't :-(

It started off as just a drizzle, but eventually started pouring.

I thought it was funny that my dad was using the pink umbrella haha

A lot of people ended up leaving so we just went back a few rows so we were under the over hang and didn't get as wet.

Notice everyone wearing the shirts on their heads as protection lol

PNC Park was a really nice park, I loved the location on the river and the park itself was really nice and clean. Plus the view is amazing!


Next time I go back to Pittsburgh, I will definitely be taking in another ball game!

After the game, it stopped raining, so we tried to find the hotel and got lost walked back to the hotel and got some food at the hotel bar. The hotel was also hosting a prom so we watched as all the girls tottered around in their heels and the guys adjusted their ties uncomfortably lol After some reminiscing (ie How has it been FIVE years since I graduated!?!?!), we all went upstairs and passed out haha

All you need is love, love, love is all you need.

I can't believe it's been already been a week! It's time for What I'm Loving Wednesday with this kind of love!

I'm loving the green grass that has started to pop up after the rainy weekend we had.

I'm loving sleeping with my windows open-soooo nice!

I'm loving Jell-o Temptations. A co-worker of mine suggested them to me and oh, my god, I'm in love. They are delicious! French Silk is my absolute fave!



I'm loving the 2 grand I have coming from my taxes. I wish I could use it for something fun, but paying bills will be just as rewarding, right!?!?!

I'm loving my Tigers! Even though they aren't playing the best right now, it's only the beginning of the season and I still have faith they'll pick it up :-)

and I'm especially loving that when you all read this, I'll be heading downtown for my first game of the season! Eat 'em up Tigers, eat 'em up!

Hope everyone is have a lovely Wednesday ♥

Sometimes I dream of Willie Mays, and the wind dies down, and the sun comes out, and the scoreboard works, and the fog lifts.

A few random things from this weekend I forgot about...

In between my morning meetings and meeting up with my parents on Friday, I was able to enjoy watching the Tigers Home Opener!

After my meeting, I headed back to my place for my special opening day lunch of a brat with caramelized onions, because I'm a dork and wanted to feel like I was at the ball park! haha

The Tigers ended up winning, which was a nice change of pace considering they've been not playing so well lately. They are 3-6 so far, and I'm hoping they will be able to pick up the pace here soon!

I was back to work for Saturday and Sunday, but on Sunday I headed over to my parents house to watch gold and to have my dad to help me with my taxes. It was sooo nice outside-I think it got up into the mid-70's which is almost unheard of for Michigan in April. It was so nice to have the windows open and to be able to drive with the windows down, bumping my Lil' Wayne haha

I finally did my taxes and found out I am getting a pretty big refund which is amazing! I'm going to pay off the last of my debt, and put the rest into savings for if when something happens. Although, I'm sure now that I have money for emergencies everything will be smooth sailing! lol After I finished up my taxes, my dad and I watched the end of the final round at the Masters. I entered a bracket pool for the tournament, but unfortunately, didn't win any money (they pay out for first was $2000!). I had a couple different ways I could have won, but no one I picked to win played very well on Saturday or Sunday. Except Rory McIlroy and the poor kid just imploded on the back nine :-(

We're getting into the final stretch of the semester right now, and I could not be more ready! I had a paper due yesterday that was due at 11:55 pm, and I wasn't even sure what I was going to write about until 7:30 am! Luckily, we were pretty slow at work and I was able to finish it by the time I left, so all I had to do was take it home, make a few corrections and send it in. It ended up being pretty good to be honest, and even better considering the fact that I wrote it in about 8 hours!

When it's love you give, then in love you'll live.

Happy Wednesday ya'll! Let's see What I'm Loving this week!

I'm loving that I won my bracket pool! I think there were like 50 people entered and my Huskies pulled through and got me $400!

I'm loving the weather! I know I say it all the time, but I'm so thankful for the sun and that it's supposed to be almost 70 this weekend-woo hoo!

I'm loving that I'm winning my first fantasy baseball game-which happens to be against my dad and makes the win that much sweeter :-)

I'm loving Ice Cream Time! Ice Cream Time is the ice cream place by my house and is officially open! I celebrated with a Dirt Sundae last night hehe

I'm loving Snooki on Wrestlemania-I'm not a wrestling fan, but I love Snooki! My co-worker sent me a clip of her "performance" last night:

Hope everyone is having a lovely Wednesday ♥

Is this love, is this love, is this love, is this love that I'm feelin'?

Well, it's Wednesday so let's see What I'm Loving with this kind of love. (that was a lot of "w"s!)

I'm loving Bob Marley Radio on Pandora! It has been the perfect music for the sunshine-y weather we've been having (even if it's still a tad chilly!)

I'm loving the two new cans of tennis balls I bought yesterday morning. Is there anything better than the smell of new tennis balls? No, there is not haha

I'm loving that I bought 8 pairs of new earrings for $6! Thank you Target Clearance section :-)

I'm loving my new Twitter! I've had an account for a while but never used untill this week and I think I'm finally starting to get the hang of it! I'm @AFreund2-follow me (even though I'm not super interesting! haha) and I'll follow you back!

I'm *still* loving March Madness! I thought my bracket was tore up from the floor up, but apparently, I'm one of the final few people still left in my bracket pool and if UConn pulls through I could be $400 richer!

I'm loving this commercial-seriously, it cracks me up everytime!

Hope everyone is having a *lovely* week ♥

By the rivers of Babylon, where he sat down and there he wept when he remembered Zion.

It's been kind of a weird week. Lots going on for people around me but none of it really involves me directly. So it's stressful, but not at the same time...weird. I'm hoping things will get back to normal soon, not even really for my sake, but more for everyone else.

Besides all that, it's been pretty uneventful. My days seem to go: work, school, friends occasionally, sleep, repeat. Nothing too exciting, to be honest.

Last night, though, I took a break from the monotony and my mom and I went to see Cedar Rapids downtown.

It was HILARIOUS! Ed Helms was so funny, and really the entire cast was just the best. Everyone in the theater was laughing the entire time. Plus, a lot of it was shot in Ann Arbor, so it was fun to try and figure out where they were!

After the movie, we went to Frita Batidos, which is a new restaurant in Ann Arbor and also happens to be one of my new customers at work. The food was delicious! It's Cuban inspired sandwiches and sides and the portions are HUGE!My mom got a fish sandwich and I got a chorizo one. I couldn't finish my entire sandwich (and am patiently waiting for my lunch to eat the rest haha) They also have the most amazing milkshakes-we got a passion fruit one and it was soooooo good! We weren't going to but we ended up getting an order of churros before we left-they were freshly fried and absolutely delicous! They have cinnamon like normal churros and a little bit or orange zest-to die for! I will definitely be going back and hopefully soon!

This week should be pretty much the same except the weather will get a little warmer (yay!) and fantasy baseball starts (double yay!). But right now it's back to work for me-luckily, I have Bob Marley Radio on Pandora :-)

And just like James, I'll be drinking Irish tonight and the memory of his last work week will be gone forever!

I'm finally feeling better-Thank god! That cold really kicked my butt! All week, I pretty much only left the house to go to work and my parents house. Other that that, I was in bed asleep. I have my voice back and am not sneezing or coughing, so I'm gonna get back to my work out routine tomorrow. I'm pretty excited-I couldn't work out all week and now that the weather is getting nice, I'm stoked to start some two-a-days, outdoor workouts and hopefully playing some tennis!

Since I was so sick, my St. Patty's Day involved laying on my couch, watching and painting my nails. Luckily, I got a little into the spirit and enjoyed some corned beef and cabbage courtesy of my wonderful mother-yummy!

On Friday, I started to feel a little better and decided to do some spring cleaning. I did a ton of laundry, washed all my linens and my comforter, rotated my mattress, cleaned my kitchen and bathroom. I probably could have kept going all night, but I got distracted by a Jersey Shore marathon and ended up seeing some of my friends later on that night.

This weekend, we had a TV show filming at work from the Food Network:

The crew took over the shop, the kitchen and half of the office for most of the weekend. I got to see a little of them filming (in between doing actual work haha) and I'm excited to see the show when it airs!

We have our very own everlasting love.

I'm linking up with This Kind of Love for my first "What I'm Loving Wednesday"!

I'm loving Target's $1 Section! I always find great stuff there, whether it's cute socks, party favors or these yummy treats!

I was so excited I had to take a picture in my car haha

I'm loving the fact that I have small enough feet to wear kids shoes! I was perusing the clearance section at Famous Footwear and I found these for $5! They are little boys shoes, but I think they are super cute.

I'm loving that March Madness starts this week. I'm in a pool at work and in one with my family and will definitely be posted on the couch for the first round games on Thursday and Friday :-)

I'm loving Glee! I know I'm late but I just died when they did this on the show last week!

I'm loving that because of daylight savings, it's no longer pitch black when I get out of work *and* the birds were singing when I woke up this morning! It's almost spring-yay!

On a much different note, I have a prayer request for everyone-My boss's friend was in a really bad accident and broke 2 vertebrae in his neck. He's responsive but doesn't have feeling in his fingers or legs. He's going to have a long road to recovery, and any prayers would be greatly appreciated!

Valentine's Day is over.

Whew! What an eventful week this has been! Even though I don't feel as crazy busy as I have in the past, at the end of the week, I look back and can't believe how quick it went. With. out. fail.

I had my friend John over for dinner last weekend. I owed him a home-cooked meal after he rescued me when my car broke down a while ago-such a sweetheart! He cooked for me a few weeks ago at his place in Royal Oak, and then last week, made the trek down to Ypsi on Sunday. I made butternut squash enchiladas and flan for desert. I also picked up some pimento cheese from the creamery and fresh made pretzels from the bakehouse-it was all so good!

The enchiladas were super easy! I made up the filling on Friday during my day off so when I got home from work on Sunday, I just had to fill them and bake them. I used a recipe I found online that is similar to the recipe used at a vegetraian resturant in Ann Arbor. I, of course, made too much and there was lots of left overs.

Prebaking with lots of yummy Mexican cheese on top

For desert, my lovely friend Sider at work, gave me her mom's recipe for flan. Oh my lord! It was a cinch to make and was perfectly, wonderfully creamy. It, again, made too much, but I gave some to my parents and brother and saved one for myself for later hehe :-)

I was a little worried about boiling the sugar because I haven't really done it since I worked in the kitchen, but it turned out perfectly. It doesn't take much to turn into the yummy, syrup-y goodness and it only took about 25 minutes to get to the perfect brown color.

Hot suga

I also chopped up my leftover pretzels that I made and baked them to make pretzel chips. They are SO addicting! I brought some over to eat with my mom and we just about devoured the entire bag. I'm in love with them, for realz.

Yummy.

Monday was a very uneventful Valentine's Day.

Cookie from work

I worked, did some homework and got coffee with Hannah. I did ask my friend Christie to be my long distance Valentine, though.

Me: Will you be my long distance Valentine?

Christie: Do you put out?

Me: Hells yea...you know how I roll.

Christie: Then I will be your long distance Valentine. I got a buy one, get one free coupon to Dunkin' Donuts. I will think of you while I eat the second one!

Me: I like the cream filled ones, just fyi.

Christie: That's what she said.

I *heart* her.

On Tuesday, my cousin Haley, my uncle David, Grandpa and his wife Judi, and I went to dinner for our belated birthdays. Haley's birthday was in November and mine was the beginning of the month, but since were so busy and Grandpa and Judi are often out of town, we decided to all go to dinner together. Since Uncle David just moved back up to Ypsi, Grandpa invited him to join in as well. We went to PF Changs, which is my grandfathers favorite-he takes everyone there for their birthday meal! It's not too bad, but the desert Haley and I got for our birthdays was by far the best part of the meal.

It was really dmily lit in the resturant, but it's a fried banana's foster wonton, with coconut-pineapple ice cream and fresh fuit. It was sooooooooooooo good! I couldn't stop eating it!
The weather this winter has been nothing if crazy unpredictable. First we had almost a foot of snow, now, less than a week later, it's all gone! The weather has been in the 40's for the past few days and even though I think they are crazy, I've seen people in short! Shorts in Michigan in February? Crazy!

View from outside my window at work.

Unfortunately, it's getting colder again. Apparently, we are going to have an ice storm tonight. Blah! I'm heading over to my parents to watch the Social Network, so I'll probably end up just waiting out the storm at thier house. It's kinda nice to stay the nice with my parents though :-)

I wish I could have this moment for life, cause in this moment I just feel so alive.

Well, "Snow-pocolypse" ended up being a whole lotta nothing. I think we got between 6 or 7 inches. Some other parts of the midwest ended up getting a lot more, but on this side of the state, it was a lot of hype and not much actual storm. The worst part of the whole thing was thet everyone was a) driving like idiots (there is no reason to go 55, nor is there a reason to go 15. Can we find some sort of middle ground here?!?!) and b) though the world was literally going to end and bought out all the milk, bread, etc. in every store. Pretty ridiculous, if you ask me haha

The view from my office after round 2

But instead of panicking-I went sledding! haha Hannah, Darin, Leto, Dan, Molly, Sammy and I went up to the high school and enjoyed the freshly fallen snow. It was a lot of fun! I was surprsied that I was able to find people who wanted to go with me, but everyone ended up having a really good time. Sammy was born in New Orleans and had never been sledding and he was *so* excited! After we got some good sledding in (and did some doughnuts in the empty parking lot) we headed to Dom's Bakery to warm up with actual doughnuts and hot chocolate. Yummy! A pretty perfect end to the night, I think.

Friday was my birthday-I turned the big 2-3! haha I woke up and headed over to my parents and my mom made me waffles for birthday breakfast. After that, we got ready and headed out to see a movie.

I absolutely loved it. I don't think my mom liked it quite as much, though. I though Natalie was perfect-so graceful and confused and just amazing. Mila Kunis, besides from being strikingly beautful, was so twisted and played her part amazingly well also. As for my Oscar challenge, I've got a few more left to see:

1. Black Swan
2. The Fighter
3. Inception
4. The Kids are Alright
5. The King's Speech
6. 127 Hours
7. Social Network
8. Toy Story 3
9. True Grit
10. Winter's Bone

My mom got The Kids Are Alright from Netflix, so I'm going to try and watch that this after noon and I think we're going to see 127 Hours this weekend. I have untill the 27th to see them all :-)

After the movie, we went to the Creamery and got some birthday gelato and stopped by the Bakehouse to pick up some brownies for our Superbowl dinner. I also got a birthday doughnut and between that and the gelato, I was just about in a sugar come-so delicious! We also went to Kohl's and Target, where I broke down and got some jeggings and to be completely honest, I'm kind of upset it took me this long! They are so comfortable! I'm pretty much in love with them!

My mom and I stopped by Trader Joe's before heading home to take a nap and get ready for dinner. We went to Carson's American Bistro in Ann Arbor. We had never been there before, but it's owned by Main Street Ventures, so it couldn't be too bad. It was really good actually-I was pleasently surprised. We started with fried calamari and I got beef medallions and crabcakes for dinner, which was really, really good! Perfectly cooked-I had to stop myself from eating all of it that night! We got pineapple upside down cake for desert and I took my left overs home to eat the next day. My mother has been using the excuse of "It's for your birthday" to buy me things for the past 6 weeks, which ahs included the sequin tunic, a new chest of drawers, a few new nail polishes and a tank of gas (although I think that was a joke ha!), but she still got me a new shirt which is pretty cute and I'm excited to wear it.

I was so tired by the time dinner was finished, I fell asleep at my parents and had to get up and go to work the next morning. We got about 6 more inches of snow Saturday afternoon so between taking forever to get home (because of the aforementioned horrible drivers) and shoveling the snow, I wasn't really in the mood to go out on Saturday night. So I curled up with some reality tv and hot chocolate and was asleep by 10pm. I'm so lame! haha

Aside from the texts, phone calls and literal day-long barrage of Facebook messages, a few friends got me some treats, as well:

Pretty flowers from my wonderful roommate, Jen

Delicious cupcake from my sweet friend Sider at work (and the rest of the Cake Ladies, too :-)

Sunday after work, I headed over to my parents to watch the Superbowl. We had Buffalo Chicken Dip, Prosciutto and Carmelized Onion Pizza and Seafood Pizza with Shrimp, Crab and Scallops-seriously, I can only hope to be able to cook like my mother some day. It was all so good! We also had Brownie Sundaes for desert-yummy!

Unfortunately, the Steelers lost to the Packers, 31-24. I didn't really have a vested interest in the game, but I would've liked to see Troy Palamalu and Heinz Ward win. I don't usually pay too much attention to the commercials, but this year there was one that stood out for sure.

But I think the E*Trade Baby was a close second hehe