Week Brief:

• Scarily amazing high-60, low 70˚ weather, in March. I will admit it's gorgeous, and so enlivening having the warm air billow around your unjacketed skin. But when the historical average for this time of year is in the 40s, something is wrong. Without a true Winter, and now jumping to the back-end of Spring weather, the environmentalist in me is cringing and pining for Northern lands. (But then again, the dinner picnics and the outdoor yoga isn't the worst)
  
  
• Fresh produce and quirky snacks to munch on this week. Radishes, mangoes, kiwis, oh my! And don't even get me started on blood oranges. Citrus season is heaven.
  
• Studying and being incredibly productive was my main to-do. I've had a massively stressful week with late nights and long hours writing notes. It paid off, my exams went well, despite a fire alarm fiasco.
  
• Nichols Arboretum, a short walk away from campus. It's a forest/prairie/grassland nature preserve that the Huron River ambles through. There's a variety of landscapes that you can easily find yourself peacefully relaxed within. I'm going to try to get there at least once a week before the semester ends.



le arb in September



• Coffee. Good coffee. Fresh, locally roasted coffee. (I'm lookin' at you, Lobster Butter Love!)

   

  Roos Roast - Ann Arbor roasted beanz!

• The Farmers' Market seems to be coming alive with this summery weather, the stalls are once more branching out from just the main arterial path and you'll find that you can't walk more than about 10 feet without having to side-step a stroller or squeeze between customers buying vibrantly-colored produce.
  
• Biking! I've taken my bike out for a spin a few times this week. Friday night, the brother and I couldn't resist the balmy night-time air, so we rode around town for some time. We went through the Old West Side, over to just South of the Huron River, and everywhere in between. I realized that Ann Arbor is strikingly similar to St. Paul, Minnesota in terms of the residences and the neighborhoods. The houses are old and intricate, lights strung around the porches, inviting fabric and out-door seating are very prominent. You're never a few blocks away from a local coffee shop, bakery/deli, or yoga studio. It was a great ride, despite my shitty bike.

  

  Izzy's Ice Cream Parlor in St. Paul, delicious, home-made, gourmet ice cream

• Hillary and I went thrifting on Saturday at the ol' Savation Army. A sheer, printed flowy top called my name. According to Hil, it's a nice brand - for $3, yes please! She came away with many many steals. Can't go wrong with Gypsy pants or leopard print, no sir. Also, she just got a zip-car membership so we rolled through town in some new wheels, feeling particularly baller as we listened to a Detroit Hip-Hop radio station.
  
•  Angelo's Breakfast - never a bad choice!
  
• SELMA Café - perhaps the greatest place in Ann Arbor, and my personal favorite. Ann Arbor residents Lisa Gottlieb & Jeff McCabe host a community breakfast every Friday morning in teh cozy atmosphere of their own beautiful home on the Old West Side. They use locally sourced foods cooked by a different local chef each week. It is entirely volunteer and donation based. This Friday at 6 AM (totally worth it) was the third time I've volunteered and about the 7th time I've been in total. I'm sure I will be writing more about SELMA in the future. Just know it's the best foodie gathering I've ever been to. This weeks chef was Alex Young, head chef at the famous Zingerman's Roadhouse. I had a wonderful morning taking orders and bringing friendly people their delicious food and refilling their steamin' Roos Roast coffee. Come with your eyes still half shut, leave with a fully belly and a happy heart.

  

  Previous Selma mornin' in the chilly, happy morning

• Saturday was St. Patty's Day, or otherwise known in the college world as "Get-shit-faced-at-6-am". I can appreciate having a good time and it's certainly great to see the campus so alive (albeit hammered), but with the gorgeous weather, all I wanted to do was lay in some sunny grass and read. And so I did and it was great. A home-cooked 'breakfast for dinner' and leisurely wine sipping on a (Frank's) front porch people-watching completed my festivities.
  
• Hayley, Hillary, and I decided to be cultural and went to the 40th annual Dance for Mother Earth Pow-Wow this morning. It was neat and I'm glad I got the chance to see it. Unfortunately it didn't impress me too much. It seems very artificial, there was a long line of vendors selling Native American trinkets, dream-catchers, moccasins, jewelry, etc... It was very oriented around consumerism and marketed toward white people wanting souvenirs - it just didn't rub me the right way. It felt, to me, kind of like a big show produced for the money without any of the meaning, which is sad because I'm so interested in Native American culture and it seemed very misaligned with what I consider Native American cultural beliefs and values. But my, what an intriguing culture, before the white-man of course.

  

  http://www.umich.edu/~powwow/visitors/schedule.html

It's been a good week - hello Spring!