All Kinds of Time: 30 Before 30: Hail to Ann Arbor!

I don't think it's a surprise to anyone that we recently moved from New York City to Ann Arbor, MI (thereby checking another item off of my 30 Before 30 list!). We actually arrived in Ann Arbor on August 7th, but I think I can officially say that we feel like we live here after last night's ridiculously amazing Michigan-Notre Dame game. Not only was it the most exciting football game I've ever seen, but the atmosphere in the Big House was absolutely electric and I think I finally feel like I can call Ann Arbor home and U of M my home team (second, of course to Vanderbilt, who was also victorious last night and will always be my first love in football, no matter how many times they break my heart).

So, I thought I'd share some photos of our new place and of the game last night, just to introduce you all to our new life in our new city, Ann Arbor.

Our new apartment is about 2-3 times as big as our apartment in New York and costs about half as much (nice!). However, there's a catch to all this extra space: you have to fill it! And decorate it. And make it feel like home. As a result, it's been a slow process of turning this house into a home, acquiring furniture, and unpacking, but we're finally at a point where I feel like we can show it off. So here goes.

Here's our living room. It looks a little cluttered in this photo, but overall, it's comfortable and (I think), well decorated. We like it.

Here's each wall of the living room:

Since I work at home, we got a 2-bedroom and I use one bedroom as an office. Here's my desk (which I bought on craigslist and previously blogged about:

Finally, one of our favorite parts of the apartment is the fact that we have a balcony looking out over a beautiful lawn:

We even have a friend who likes to hang out on the porch!

Of course, being in a new city can't be all about decorating and nesting, you have to get out and meet people! As you probably know, Taylor is attending the Ross School of Business at Michigah for the next two years, so much of his time is spent with class, recruiting, and school activities. We've met great people through that. I've also gotten involved with the Ross Partner's Club, which is a club for spouses, girlfriends, boyfriends, fiances, etc. of other students. I spent all of last week volunteering at their orientation, where I met some great people!

Taylor's friend Mike was in town for the first couple weeks we were here, so it was nice to get to see him as well. Here's a photo of the boys at Zingerman's, a famous deli in Ann Arbor (yum!).

And, of course, we've gone to 2 football games. Last Saturday, my parents and my brother came up to Ann Arbor and we took them to the game against Western Michigan. Here are the boys ready for the game:

It was a 90+ degree day and sunny as can be when we headed to the game. Michigan didn't look great, but were managing to hold on to a lead a halftime. About a minute or two into the third quarter, however, the announcer informed us that strong storms were coming toward the Stadium. About 5 minutes later it started to torrentially downpour and we were SOAKED! I had on a white jean skirt (smart move) and I had a few vitamins and some Tylenol in my pockets, which proceeded to soak through and leave me covered in brightly colored spots. Luckily, my shirt was long enough to cover the skirt so you couldn't see through it!
We decided that we should leave the game, because we had to walk about a mile to our apartment and didn't want to get caught in a terrible storm (the rain later turned to thunder and LOTS of lightning). It turned out that play resumed for a bit after we left, but the game got called at the end of the third quarter because the lightning would not let up. Regardless, Michigan won!

Which brings us to yesterday. I've been hearing about the Michigan-Notre Dame game and what a big deal it is since probably May when we were at a bowling alley in New York and a guy offered Taylor $200 for his student ticket. It was the first game ever under the lights in Michigan, and of course Michigan-Notre Dame is a big rivalry (not as big as Ohio State, but still big). Taylor had a student ticket, but I actually didn't have a ticket. However, we met up with one of Taylor's classmates before the game. His wife was supposed to join him, but she ended up being sick, and he was kind enough to sell us her ticket for what he paid for it (even though he probably could have gotten 5 times that outside the stadium). I'm so glad he did!

I won't recap the whole game, but if you haven't seen it, you HAVE to watch these highlights. I literally just got goosebumps watching it.

The stadium was ABSOLUTELY electric. I cannot even describe it. Here are some photos: