Thanksgiving football tradition

I was told that the Lions should no longer play on Thanksgiving. Even though we are TERRIBLE now, let's not forget where it started. As we eat our traditional thanksgiving feast we are going to watch our traditional football game.

Four generations of Detroiters have been a proud part of the American celebration of Thanksgiving. The relationship between Detroit and Thanksgiving dates back to 1934 when owner G.A. Richards scheduled a holiday contest between his first-year Lions and the Chicago Bears. Some 74 years later, fans throughout the State of Michigan have transformed an annual holiday event into the single greatest tradition in the history of American professional team sports. Indeed, if football is America’s Passion, Thanksgiving football is Detroit’s Passion.
No other team in professional sports can claim to be as much a part of an American holiday as can the Detroit Lions with Thanksgiving. When you think of Thanksgiving, you think of football and the Lions.

The Thanksgiving tradition is older than 24 current NFL franchises, and Detroit’s passionate affair with the annual Thanksgiving Day game is evidenced by its growing popularity. Year-after-year, Detroiters look forward to not only spending Thanksgiving with their families, but they also enjoy sharing that time with the Lions.

Mr. and Mrs. Fernelius tie the knot.

Jill is one of my best friends from college and I remember the of the first dates that she went on with Scott our junior year. So now, almost 4 years later, they were getting married.

On Friday Garry and I went to rent the car from MDW airport which took forever ( I should have just thought to pick up the car on Thursday at ORD airport when we both flew in from ATL) Ugh. Well, now I know from last time. Finally we got on the road and we met my parents, grandparents, sister, and cousin at Applebees in Grand Rapids for a quick lunch before we continued the trip to TC. It was the first time Garry was meeting the parents. Lunch was great and everyone had a good time. I think my mom had to get use to the "Yes Maams" from Garry. It makes her feel old and she doesn't like to hear ma'am but it is how people are raised in the south. My mom also enjoyed bringing up all of the "My mom said" stories (i.e. how I thought hurricanes got their name and why we changed our clocks for daylight savings. On the drive up we found a place that sold pasties (basically pot pies) and he tried one of those for the first time as well as Vernors! Note - Vernors is produced in Michigan and is really only found in MI and its the only pop that I drink so I am a little obsessed when I can have it.

On Friday night Garry and I meet up with Jill and couple of her friends at the Park Place Hotel Martini Lounge. It is the place to be in TC if you want to see the city views.

Saturday we went to the farmers market next to the lake. I found the best Cherry Salsa and Cherry Vinaigrette dressing. Then we were off to the wedding. The wedding was at the A-Ga-Ming golf course which over looked Torch Lake. It was a warm fall day and couldn't have been more perfect for them. Jill's two yorkies were also in the wedding and I was holding one of them during the ceremony and of course she peed on me:-) Luckily, she was like a 4 lb dog so there wasn't much. After the ceremony we had a late lunch at the reception.

After the wedding we headed back into TC and shopped downtown at the Cherry Republic store where they have EVERYTHING in cherry. We tasted a few cherry wines and of course I did not walk out empty handed. After some shopping we headed out to Grand Traverse bay to have an appetizer and a cocktail on one of the highest floors in the casino so there were great views of the north bay. We then headed to Turtle Creek. I am not much of a gambler, but Garry loves his black jack tables so I just watched. After a while he told me I could play on his dime, so of course I started to play.

Sunday, we drove back to Chicago. Nothing too exciting on the way back but we had to make like 3 stops to find me Vernors (in a bottle). We did not end of finding vernors 6-packs in a bottle, so I had to settle for cans. I love that stuff!

It was a great week and I am glad that Garry was able to see Michigan! (Even though on the way up to TC I pointed to a couple of things (silo and a propane tank) and asked him if they had those, I guess they have those all over:-)

I wish Scott and Jill the best and thank them for a great weekend!

Back in ATL for the week (Week of 9/22)

Had fun in ATL this week - Since I haven't blogged in a while and I am WAY over due I was just trying to bullet point what I remembered from that week

• Garry, Taylor, Ingrid and I went to trivia night. When we got there we realized it was 80's trivia which pretty much meant we didn't have a good chance of winning. I think we managed to get 3 our approximately 20 questions right.
• We went bowling on Wednesday night and I had my highest scoring game ever. I broke 200 with my handicap (without handicap I think it was 131)
• During the week the news came out that Millen was no longer president of the Lions franchise. Woo hoo. Hopefully in a couple years we can have a better team and win some more games!

Home sweet Ionia for the weekend (9/19)

So Friday after chopping my hair I was off on a train to MI to see the fam. My train ended up being delayed.

My dad, sister, and Kiara picked me up from the train station in Kazoo. It was great to see both of them and Kiara. I miss her soooo much. She has always freaked out on the express way and always feels comfortable if she sits on your shoulder (yes - like a bird). Steph tries to train her not to do this but I always give in:-)

After getting home my mom, sis, and Melissa went to Walmart. I totally stocked up on anything and everything and ended up spending $125 - yikes. I never get to just wondering around stores, so I enjoyed it!


550 AM Saturday morning - I was up and ready to go fishing. Not talkative and chirpy but I was awake. It was just my dad and I headed to Crystal Lake! And it was a little chilly! I totally didn't come prepared (only had flip flops for shoes so i was cold - but when the sun started to rise it got warmer (but unfortunately it seemed that the fish weren't bitting anymore) So I caught a total of 4 that day and I think my dad caught about 6 or 7 (I probably could have caught more but i decided to take a little nap on the back of the boat:-) - I caught a couple of small mouths, large mouth and a pike! (and I will admit I did freak out a little when I had to grab the fish and it did fall - so sorry fishy but I am sure he/she is fine now. And since the pike have teeth I had to hold it by its stomach....ewww...

My dad and I were on a bit of a schedule b/c I had to get back to ionia in time for my nail appt! A nice mani and pedi after finishing makes for a great day. So my mom and I headed out to my favorite nail salon. It was nice and relaxing and definitly well deserved.

Saturday night we cooked for the family and my grand parents. It was great to see them. They have recently moved to an apartment complex with other seniors and I was unable to help them with their move so I felt bad. But after dinner I went to see the new place and its nice. I saw my cousin while I was there so it was a good night.

Once I got home Jared called and we went up to Gregorys for a few drinks. It was nice to catch up. And my dad and I had gotten in a little 'tiff' on Friday and when I talked to Jared about it he talked some sense back into me and I realized I was wrong too and I wasn't happy with the way that I had acted with a few things that weekend. We leave completely different lives (big city vs small town) and I just needed to realize that things are just different in both.

Sunday we were aiming to go to church but we all slept in! During the afternoon before heading to the airport my mom cooked up the corn dogs that she has got at the Ionia Free Fair ( in July) she had froze them b/c those are my favorite and let me tell you they were amazing!!!! She also made pancake batter fried blue gill (another favorite!) Then my mom, my sis, and Melissa were off to DTW (they were all dropping me off:-)

I got my hair did...(9/19)

Wednesday (9/17) back in Chicago I had dinner with Robyn to catch up! I also decided at dinner that I was going to chop my hair. I had got my hair cut in July and wasn't sure I really like the layers in my haircut so I decided it would be best to just chop it and see how I would like it. I called to Thursday to make an appt for Friday - yet to find out I already had an appt that I had booked at my last appt, so I knew it was meant to be. Thursday I finally was able to catch up with my room mate over dinner and then we came back to the house and had a few more glasses of wine to catch up. It was great!

I will probably grow my hair back out but needed a change. I don't know when the last time my hair was this short but so far I like it!

Short Trip to ATL (9/13)

So on Saturday I headed off to the airport to stay in ATL a few days (hadn't seen Garry since I left for holiday). In the meantime while I traveled to the airport Robyn picked up Steph and took her to the train station. She said it was freaky b/c she looked over and Steph looked like me and sounded like me but it wasn't. Ha Ha. (We sound so much alike and even mom cant tell us apart sometimes)

The commute to ORD that day was horrendous. I left 2.5 hours prior to my flight b/c I was taking the L. So I said goodbye to my sis and went off to find a cab in the pouring rain. I got a cab after waiting about 5 minutes in the rain:-) I had the cab take me to the closest L stop, there i waited approx another 10 minutes for the train went 3 stops just to get off the train, get on a shuttle bus and back on a couple stops ahead (due to construction - which i did check the website prior to leaving and it wasn't listed) So, we get to the Rosemont stop (one stop until ORD) and find out that the no traffic from the express way or the the train will not be able to go any further into ORD b/c of flooding. So appox 100 people were at the Rosemont stop not knowing what to do. In the mean time I found that my originally 1140 flight was delayed until 130. So not knowing what to do I waited around a few more minutes and saw a Home Sweet Marriott shuttle, I decided to hop on. I went to the closest Marriott hotel b/c I really didn't know what to do at that point. I hung out in the lobby for about 1/2 hour with other people that had been stranded. We got word that they were letting people back into ORD so I hopped on the shuttle and finally got to the airport around 1200 (I left my apartment at 9 - so it had already been a long day!)

Since I had some time to blow in the airport while I waited for my delayed flight I decided to straigten my hair in the bathroom. Ha Ha. It was frizzy from the rain and had nothing better to do although I did get some strange looks. I finally made to ATL around 4. I was planning on meeting Garry at our "normal" location but he surprised me and came into the airport. After you get off the escalaters in ATL there is an area where people stand to greet the arrivals and I totally wasn't paying attention. I was focused on where I needed to go and jammin to "American Boy" and then I saw someone darting at me from the corner of my eye and it was him! I know it wont happen often, but it was nice:-)

That night we went to dinner at BWs - for some reason I had been craving it and it was delicious. Sunday we watched football (the lions lost to Green Bay and it was TERRIBLE) The rest of the evening consisted of football. Around 930EST the announcement was made about Bank of America acquiring Merril Lynch and Lehman Brothers going bankrupt. At the time I didn't realize the financial services industry was going to get much worse.

So it was pretty much a relaxing few days in ATL and then I headed back to Chicago on Tuesday night.

I can't sleep and I found this fun questionairre my mom sent me..so why not fill it out at 2AM...

Where is your cell phone? - Night Stand

Where is your significant other? My boyfriend is probably sleeping since its 330AM EST and I just realized I don't like the term significant other...it sounds weird.

Your hair? pony tail (little but still can pull it up since i got it chopped)

Your mother? incredible

Your father? genuine

Your favorite thing? hmmm, I have a lot of favorite things..right now the fall season, but I also love being on a lake in the spring/summer.

Your dream last night? Well I started to say my prayers before I feel asleep and then I started dreaming that i was talking to my sister..haha and that is all I remember...

Your dream/goal? happiness

The room you're in? My bedroom - I cant sleep!

Your hobby? When I think of hobby I think of arts and crafts, or something like gardening (all of which I dont like), but I would say traveling (for vacation especially), pilates, running, camping, and i would love to learn more languages if I could, and also going to the beach/lake, going to sporting events, and shopping (especially just wondering around Target when I get the chance)

Your fear? potatoes...ewwww

Where do you want to be in 6 years? I don't know where I want to be in 6 months! and I am finally in Chicago for 6 straight days so definitely cant not answer the question to 6 years...

Where were you last night? Home!

What you're not? shy

One of your wish list items? that my family would come to see me in Chicago ...and a cure for breast cancer (I was watching Oprah today and Chrstina Applegate was on talking about her story and its so scary - she was only 33 when she was diagnosed and since I have already had a lump removed (non cancerous) and have the history of breast cancer in my family it definitely is scary.

Where have you lived? Ionia (I-Town) 18 years, Kalamazoo 5 years, Detroit 1 year and 3 months, Chicago 1 year and 7 months (yes that adds up to 25 years and 10 months - yikes!!!

The last thing you did? got out of bed to go get my computer b/c i couldn't sleep

What are you wearing? pjs

Your TV? The Today Show and Fox News and I cant wait for LOST to come back!

Your pet? Kiara but her aunt stephanie has custody at this time while her mommy travels...kiara is lucky to have a good aunt!

Your computer? HP

Your mood? not sure..tired and stressed

Missing someone? my family, Garry and kiara

Your car? now that question is just mean...just turned my jeep in..does Delta Airlines or Chicago CTA count?

What did yo be when you wanted to grow up? A business woman like my mom (and seriously I never went through the stage of wanting to be a teacher or a doctor - I have always know that I want go be in the business (financial) industry

Something you're not wearing? socks..I cant stand wearing socks to bed.

Favorite store? Target

Favorite Song? Free Bird

Favorite Food? Movie Theater Popcorn

Your summer? Busy and it went way to fast!

Your favorite color? Red

When is the last time you laughed? Today

Last time you cried? Today

Quote? Dont ever start a sentacnce with " I should have"