I heart Ann Arbor.

It's been well over a decade since the days of spending entire afternoons wandering Ann Arbor with Sara in search of secondhand jeans and flannel shirts. These days, our ventures downtown are more along the lines of parking lot to Grizzly Peak, parking lot to Blind Pig. Maybe mix it up a little and go from parking lot to Palio to Borders and back. I've always loved my town and take pride in my local status, but it's not often that I spend time appreciating it as a whole. Brad and I love to travel and discover new cities, spending hours walking around, shopping, eating, stopping for spontaneous drinks. Today kind of reminded me of that. Somehow I conned Brad into Christmas shopping with me downtown, and it really was the perfect day. I loved wandering around with him, discovering new and old shops, looking for that last perfect gift. It was cold, but that's ok because (courtesy of my $50 Xmas bonus--thanks, BNP :P) I picked up a new tweed cap to keep my head warm. We started our day with gingerbread lattes and chocolate donuts from Espresso Royale. Then onto Peaceable Kingdom, Vault of Midnight, Acme... How can you not love all our local little shops? I would rather shop downtown any day than wander around the mall with the rest of the Christmas zombies. We walked Main Street, down Liberty, State Street, and over to Kerrytown. We finished our day off with a Zingerman's lunch. I don't care what anyone says, but of all the food I've eaten, all over the world, you'd really be hard pressed to find a better sandwich. Seriously. I could eat a #77 (Jimmy Wants Rosemary's Baby) every. day. of. the. week. I know it's expensive. A $10 deli reuben? But so what. It's worth it. And where else can you get fresh sourdough bread, fresh mozzarella, and special rosemary goat cheese while you wait? Anyway, my point is, I had a great day. I love my town, I love my Brad, and I freaking love my Zingerman's cheese.

When we got home, I was energized from my day, so I headed downstairs to my freezing cold craft space. For Christmas, I'm giving my mom the gift of my time, and Brad's time. I made her a little coupon book of babysitting, yard work, and general helping-out coupons. I definitely think she'll appreciate it -- there's nothing she needs more than a break now and then. I'm mostly pleased with how all the pages out, and I really hope she loves it. :) I'm also happy to report that I'm mostly done with my Christmas shopping (gotta throw props out there to the Rocket, a local Ypsi store Rachel turned me onto -- support your local Michigan businesses, folks!). Our spare bedroom is currently present central.

For Beth. Har har.

I printed a photobook for Beth of Jordan pics. It turned out really well.

Here's one page layout.

And another!

Cover of coupon book. Here are a few coupons:

Diamond update: We LOVE her. I mean seriously. LOVE HER. I have a sneaking suspicion that if she hadn't started getting calls, we would have snatched her up. Her and Heidi slept with us last night, and she was perfect. Her and Heidi snuggled in between Brad and me and didn't make a peep until morning. At this point, three people have called about her and the first is coming to visit her tomorrow. I'll keep you posted! But until then, a little photo spread of our past few days together.

That face. Kills me.

We like to sleep on top of each other.

We like to play tug of war, too.

Heidi usually wins.

It's a rough life.

Enough chatting. Time to FINALLY watch Audition. Preparing to be grossed out.