Washington Came First and He Was Perfect: President’s Day Weekend in Michigan
As the sun does its work and powers through the hopelessly large of amount of snow still on the ground, IP and I have had a triumph: Saturday night we went shopping for the first time since January 29. Hallelujah!
And this week I have to start working full weeks again. The hell? Well, at least until April, when IP and I take some time off and head down to Cancún for what will be a well-deserved break away from D.C. We’re actually thinking that, if we haven’t moved by then, that we’ll take another vacation this year to Greece in Septemberish. Sounds good to me! So we’ll definitely have our Cancún trip, a visit from IP’s brothers, and a visit from my sister upcoming; IP and I also want to make time to visit my wonderfully geeky brother in Boston at some point, too. Throw in another trip to the South Pacific for me, and another wedding in the Pacific Northwest for the both of us, and IP maybe heading out to Cali at some point, and then both of us maybe going to Greece, and you’ll see we’ve actually got a lot of travel and visiting on our plates. Lots to look forward to, then, with these visits and trips breaking up the monotony that is life in D.C.
But first, I took a swing through Michigan during President’s Day weekend. It’s the easiest time to get away given the holiday and it’s also my dad’s birthday. So not only do I get to visit my family, but I get cake. What’s there to lose? For me, Michigan’s always filled with treats I can’t get here (although I did find Frozen Coke at 7-Eleven, it’s still not as good as Meijer), a trip to Meijer, a nice breakfast with the family at Big Boy or Bob Evans, playing Wii and, this trip around, watching the Olympics.
Ah over the clothes I bought at Kohl’s, Old Navy and M-Den (including my nifty ¡Vamos Azul! tee)! Oooh over the fact that my mom had to give me one of her pieces of luggage again because I couldn’t help myself when it came to buying new stuff. Hold your breath in anticipation as I describe having to substitute chili powder for cumin in my carnitas recipe because my mom hates cumin—only to have it turn out tasty and beloved by the Michigan WordNerdias.
The weekend was very fun, gentle teasing aside. I had fun being in a place that has less than half a foot of snow on the ground. To make me feel at home, my family even made sure I had some throwback Coke, which is basically Coke imported from Mexico since they still use real sugar down there:
Ah, tasty! Brings back lots of memories, too. Also in the cards was a Frozen Coke; my sister and I hit the Saline-Ann Arbor Road Target because, as she said, “They always have Frozen Coke there.” Imagine her surprise when there wasn’t any Frozen Coke; just Frozen Dr Pepper. While it was good, it was no Frozen Coke.
I wasn’t around a TV for Torino 2006, but I saw plenty of Vancouver 2010′s first weekend. I watched as Gretzky grimaced, a technical difficulty spoiling the lighting of the Olympic cauldron. I cringed when the Canadian women’s hockey team absolutely decimated Slovakia and Switzerland; as much as I’m rooting for them, the lopsided scores (18-0, 10-1) are painful to see. Hanging out with a friend, I saw Apolo Ohno win his sixth Olympic medal, watching the sure podium sweep by the Koreans become a disaster as the silver and bronze medalists-to-be knocked themselves out, allowing Ohno and his teammate J.R. Celski to move in and medal. I saw China’s Shen Xue and Zhao Hongo finally take the gold in pairs figure skating; although their programs were enjoyable, I was reminded that nobody comes close to being like Gordeeva and Grinkov these days.
In the end, it was just really nice to sit down and relax with my family for a few days. We celebrated our dad’s birthday with the aforementioned breakfast trip to Bob Evans, then filled up on ice cream and cake in the afternoon. We all pitched in and gave my dad a camera—he’s always been fond of taking pictures, but has never gotten a digital camera for himself. We found one that was mid-range, to get him started, but was more than just point and shoot. It was a quiet weekend (except for the afternoon where my sister and I did a Jackie Warner workout through On Demand; it was difficult, because I usually rest in between my damn lifting sets; my mom burst out laughing when I called Ms. Warner a bitch for making me do what was essentially five or six body weight matrices in a row—OUCH!). My mom also taught me how to make a new dish, which I’ve already made for IP and myself, which made us go “¡Delicioso!”
IP and I have to get through about eight weeks of work before heading to Cancún. He’ll take time off during that span when his youngest brother visits, and I’ll probably end up taking a day or two to work from home in order to greet our new dresser (whenever we may buy it; I didn’t suggest looking for it this weekend or next only because it seems to snow every single time I do). It’ll be a tough slog, but we’ll get there.
