I can't remember the last time I just blogged about my day. I think it was like 2008. Seriously.
Today wasn't overly eventful, but it was a nice, fun, festive day and I happened to take a bunch of photos, so I figured why not blog about it!?
First thing this morning, I took Taylor to school to work on a project. Since I had a little time to kill between that and my 10am tennis match, I decided to check out the one of the 2 Ann Arbor dog parks that I had not yet seen. It was awful! No other dogs. Small. Mostly dirt (not grass). We hadn't been there 5 minutes and I could tell Nashville was pretending to have fun just so it wouldn't hurt my feelings (am I projecting human emotions on him that are too complex? I think not, I mean look at this face!
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Anyway, we left the dog park (much to Nash's joy) and headed to my tennis match. Now, I just started playing Tennis in June, but if I do say so myself, I'm getting pretty good considering how long I've played. At least that's what I thought this morning, even after seeing my 55 year old opponent, Jane. We started to warm up with easy half-court lobs and things were going pretty well. Then she suggested we back it up and warm up full court and...
WHAM!
BANG!
TAKE THAT!
She was smashing shots at me (and in-bounds, goshdarnit) like a 55-year-old Maria Sharapova (seriously!). Turns out she was in the league of people just 1 level better than me (?!) but they didn't have enough people so they combined them (without warning!).
Anyway, needless to say, I did not win. She won 6-1 in the first set and 6-0 in the second set. :(
And she said that patronizing thing every one of my senior citizen opponents have said after they beat me: "Your strength is your speed, and the rest will come with time." Translation: "You may be young and able to run to all my shots, but you suck enough at everything else that I still beat you." Tennis; the great equalizer.
After tennis, I had precious little time to eat lunch and relax before I had to get ready to head out for a 5K that a few friends and I were running called the Holiday Hustle. Taylor and Nashville were nice enough to come cheer us on. Here we are before the start, all decked out in our holiday best:
That's Heather, Theresa, Zoe, Lana, Me and Nashville
Blurry...
The race was fun. My friend Theresa told me after our first mile, which was 10:20 that she was hoping to break 30 minutes. I had no goal since I have run...wait, let me do some math...5 miles since my sinus surgery. So I was just going to hang with everyone and go whatever pace was comfortable. But when I found out she had a goal and that we would have to be focused to make it, I took it as a personal challenge. We ran together the rest of the way and I'm happy to report that Theresa got her best 5K time by a full minute: 29:31! Way to go, Theresa!
Finally, after the race we headed straight to downtown Detroit for the 40th annual Noel Night. It's a night in early December each year where all of the museums, cultural centers and libraries downtown open their doors for free and decorate for the holidays. They have music, crafts and games for kids, snacks, and opportunities to do some holiday shopping.
It is really crowded and we got there a little late because of the race, so we didn't get to do everything, but we did enjoy what we did do:
The Detroit Library, we got cider and donuts here and toured some of the collections:
We didn't go in the Detroit Institute of Art, but it is a beautiful sight from the outside
Here we are:
And then when we got tired of walking around (that didn't take long after tennis
and a 5K!), we headed to a place I've wanted to check out ever since it was on Diners, Drive-ins and Dives, the Polish Village Cafe in the old Polish neighborhood of Detroit, Hamtramck. My grandma's whole family is from Poland and she and my grandfather grew up in the predominantly Polish and Ukranian areas of Detroit back in the 30s, so I love discovering these places. I only wish Grandma Lucyk could have been around to go with us!
They have the BEST (and only, I admit) dill pickle soup that I have ever had. We also got their pierogies and a Hungarian Pancake with goulash on top. It was amazing, and the place was so cozy and vibrant, you had a hard time believing that you were in Detroit, Michigan rather than a Polish Village.
Bonus, I have a potluck tomorrow where I'm supposed to bring food from my culture. I had no idea what to make (my only idea was mac'n'cheese and I was putting that under "American," not Polish). Thank goodness they sold the soup to go!
Decorations:
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