{Grand Rapids/Chicago/Holland}

Valentines Day weekend I popped over to Michigan to visit with Britton! Yay! Spending time with family is such a treasure! I left Burlington at 5:50 am Friday, had a quick stop in Detroit, and little jump in a plane to Grand Rapids. I caught a taxi and went to Britton’s apartment. He had to work so he left a key for me. (He sent me directions and a pix txt of where it was—I kind of felt like I was in the Amazing Race or something. Catch a plane, another plane, taxi, fetch the key…). I got in his apt, managed to mess up his tv/cable thing and had to call him for help. (I like one remote and bunny ears, thank you!)

After a while, his girlfriend, Kelli came over and we went to lunch, I thought she was taking out, but we really met up with britton! Surprise! We ate at a deli, where I proudly said, yes, I would like a “pop” with my sandwich, (not “soda”) Kelli and I headed to Meijer to pick up some food, and headed back to B’s apartment to cook all afternoon for our Opening Ceremony Party. Woo hoo! Love the Olympics! Kelli & I cooked all afternoon, it was lovely! We made a chex mix bowl, little smokies, sweet & sour lentil meatballs, spiked fruit salad, pizza, cheese & crackers, french onion dip. Britton & his friends came over and we had a great time! One of his buddies is from Canada, so it was fun to have his take on the opening ceremony. One of the girls brought a cake with some delicious homemade frosting, and was decorated with the perfect Valentine Olympic theme!

Saturday we went bummed around grand rapids, went to Greek-ish restaurant for lunch. Saw where britton works, and got the run down of what he does. {this may or may not have been where Kel had a spontaneous n*sync dance party}. We went to some fun markets, boutiques, and shops, got a cup of coffee at one of the cutest starbucks ever. I requested to stop at Target, where I picked up some essentials (black cardigan, etc). We made dinner at home, spaghetti, broccoli and salad. We chilled at the house, watched some cable tv, dvr, and rocked the wii. Then we headed downtown GR to a tapas restaurant called San Chez for sangria and caipirinha (just to make dad proud). {walking to the restaurant is where we saw a guy driving, window down rockin out, I mean rockin out to Whitney Houston}. We had picked up some amazing chocolates at a shop and we savoured those with our drinks. (Maple Star Anise, Arabica & Espresso, Saigon Cinnamon and Strawberry Balsamic Caramel). Yum!

Valentine’s Day, we woke up bright & early and headed down to Chicago for the day! (Britt, Kel, her sister Sara and I) Yay! The City! We had a loose plan of shops to go to, sights to see and fabulous lattes to sip! First on our list was a stop at Rush (where Kel really wants to go for grad school), we found a place to park, and started shopping, Filene’s Basement, Williams Sonoma, H& M, Britt and I went to the top of the Hancock building. Across the street, we met up with Matt Arnold! We then headed to get some delicious Chicago pizza. Oh it was heart shaped, how cute.

We popped over to Millennium park, took classic bean photos, then stopped at intelligentsia, hope to the best lattés EVER, and did more shopping. For dinner we shared plates at a Chinese place called “Big Bowl”. Before leaving the city, we ran onto Trader Joe’s, said our “see you laters” and headed back to GR.

Monday morning Britton and I went to Holland. We shopped, I spent a lot of money on two pairs of shoes (this large sized purchase resulted in some creative packing for the trip home). We had lunch at the New Holland Brewing Company, and then tried to go on a tourof the brewery, lets just say we’ll be doing that the next time. (always nice to save something for the next visit). We also went on a quest to find Big Red (Holland’s iconic lighthouse). Our “let’s just go toward the lake and it will be there” theory panned out quite well. We came back to B’s played wii, watched tv, chilled & then headed to the airport!