Where is Winter?

So it is December 22nd - sorry for not writing in over a month. I am just going to have to put an alarm on my phone to remind me to write. I feel sorry for Tony - he is going to be reminding me to put my shoes on in ten years. :-/

So we had about 3 inches of snow in the last week. I think some Yoopers were getting a little excited. Then it stopped. Then it rained. And rained. And kept raining. The beautiful pine trees and w=White Birch covered in snow on my way to work from Ish to Marquette, and around the corner to my house, they were gorgeous - the rain took it all away in one shot. I am seriously starting to think I am just getting spoiled. Are all these Yoopers pulling my leg about all the snow up here? I know I will eat those words because I know when Winter comes and shows her bitter face, she will come with a Vengeance.

So Tony and I attended a party the other night - invited by Bill at Great Lakes Radio - their Two Tickets to Paradise party - to come and see what it was all about - you can win a trip to Mexico. Ok we were game. Free dinner from Mama Ruso's heck yeah....so we got there and there was a huge crowd. We waited and got in, found a spot right next to this sign that read 'Reserved for Elmer Aho'. Elmer!!! I said Honey let's sit here!!!! So we sat and he got in line at the bar waiting to get us a drink. So Elmer comes and sits and of course I am social right away! I introduced myself, told him we were big fans, that my other half was a HUGE fan - When we go to our friend Dale's house out by National Mine - on Saturday nights for the bonfires, Elmer is always playing. So I told him I will have get his autographs later - he had some fancy black and gold license plates there with his picture on them to sell...he said 'How about right now, I got an extra piece of paper" - OK!!! So he wrote me a nice note and signed it for me and me, being who I am, jumped in at the chance to get a selfie with Elmer!! Tony came back and I introduced them - got a pic with him and Elmer talking and Bill got a pic of all three of us. We did not win the trip to Mexico but we did win a chance to meet a very awesome person - Elmer Aho - and that Saturday, he played a song for me and mentioned my name and thanked me for the baked goodies I gave to him and the U.P. ornament. It was great :-) See the pictures!!

So that was my highlight of the season!!

On another note, I had not been down to the lake in a while and I was feeling kind of...I don't know, eh. Just blah. Tony's son was sick with a terrible cold/cough. Could have been bronchitis, not sure but that usually does not go away on its own. I got sick with bronchitis. Tony has been sick for a couple of days. Tis the season! Hopefully it all clears our house by the time we leave for Christmas travels on Thursday morning. I have to tell you, I am exhausted. I really want one day to sit on my ass and do NOTHING. No cooking. No baking. No laundry. No cleaning house. No picking up after teenagers. UGH. For two weeks I have been baking like a mad woman. I can't tell you how many things I have baked because I lost count. This is not all for our house. I have siblings that get some of these goodies every year. I have a best friend who is disabled and cannot cook right now out in Utah, and her kids, so they all got some. I have an old vet friend who I consider family down in Green Bay who will be getting some. So the love gets spread around. I don't know how many loads of dishes I washed....I don't count, but it was a lot and it was crazy. Then I spent all day Saturday baking some more and making Christmas dinner for me and Tony and our two sons and a friend of ours, Dale, came over. Then THOSE dishes on Sunday. Tony did come out and dry the dishes and that I was thankful for otherwise it would have taken me three times as long to get them all done, as our kitchen is small - cozy - but small and with that many dishes and pots and pans - I would of had to stop and dry them. So I have been having angry mom issues lately. I pick up after the boys at home - which I don't mind, it's just what I do - pick up dirty clothes left in the bathroom here - because, you know, why would anyone throw them in the basket right around the corner, that makes no sense. Or picking up dirty dishes in the bathroom - because eating in the bathroom is well...I just don't know. LOL. And doing more dishes. And cleaning. And picking up after people. I don't mind doing my part and being mom and girlfriend. Don't get me wrong, I am NOT bitching. I LOVE taking care of my family. I love feeding them and seeing them enjoying their meals and having full bellies. I don't love the fact that teenagers are just plain lazy and assume that when they leave shit laying around that someone WILL pick it up. My son was like that too. And my daughter. Just leave it. Mom will pick it up. WHO picks up after mom? No one picks up my dirty clothes. No one washes my clothes or makes me dinner. I suppose I enable everyone to not pick up after themselves because I DO do it. It urks me to see crap on the bathroom floor when there is a basket right there. Just pet peeves of mine. And every housewife, LMAO. Someday - I will have a bigger kitchen so I can spread out and things won't be so cluttered. Maybe even a dining room table that does not become a catchall for EVERYTHING - mail, junk mail, rocks, homework, desserts, tools, literally everything. Someday. Ok I am done venting. I am just tired. And I just realized that Tony usually reads my blog - and no honey, I am not bitching. I am just tired these past couple of weeks. Exhausted. At work and at home. Maybe it's the damn weather getting to me. Just been in a funk and I am looking forward to getting out of the house and being someone else's guest for a while!! :-)

Christmas went well at our house - My son Jon came up to visit for the weekend and we had Christmas dinner and opened gifts. My family is a gift giving family - we like to see the smiles on other people's faces. It is never about money or how much is spent or how big or expensive the gift is. It is about the smile it brings. I know Asa had a hard time with all the gifts he had piled up, as he is the type that does not like to receive if her cannot give back, a very humbling trait to have. But he is 15 and not expected to give anything. I think he had a hard time accepting the fact that my family will get him gifts because we are all family now (of course he made a comment and said 'Not really....' which kind of stung a little - that he does not see my family as his family) - but my family does not see it as me just moving up here and latching onto these two boys up here....which I didn't. We all moved in together. I did not move in with Tony and he did not move in with me, we moved in together. We have been together for over a year, I see Asa as my own son, my kids see Tony as a step-dad type guy and Asa as their brother. Some kids just take it all differently. Anyhow, I did get called the Yooper mom, that gave me warm fuzzies! Asa said he thinks of me as his Yooper mom and he is the ONLY one allowed to call me that! :-) Proud mama bear here. Even if he isn't my child, I would give my life to protect him just like I would my own. Even if they are all pains in my ass :-) Hey, isn't that what kids are supposed to do?

I was going to tell you about my trip to the lake and I really got off on Christmas and family didn't I? Sorry, just needed to spit that all out. I know I am not the only one with family holidays and baking and dishes and teenagers and all kinds of fun :-) I do love my family. To pieces. All the way to Ishpeming.

So the other day, when I pulled into work, the waves were just pushing over the break wall down by the light. So I told myself, after work, I am definitely heading down to the lake! So I did, I headed to the lake and it was alive and talking and screaming! There were big waves, some good five footers probably - I went to Presque Isle Park and took pictures and videos. It was misting - so it was cold and wet but it was invigorating, feeling the spray from the lake as well, come up over the tall rocks up to the park....I love it. I don't have a video to share on here...someday I will figure that out. :-)

Ok I think I have been babbling quite enough. It is Tuesday. Thursday we head down to Wisconsin to do family Christmas with my stepdad, my brother, Tonys dad and Tonys mom. Then our fun 7 hour trip down to southern Illinois to see my dad and siblings. May be all be alive by the end of the trip!! :-)

Have a very Merry Merry Christmas and if you are up in the U.P. yourself - I pray for snow for you!!!!

xxoxoxoxoxoxox

Being a Yooper???

I am wondering if all of the Yoopers up here are having some kind of withdrawal symptoms or going into shock....here is why..
1 - It is November 15th, opening day of deer season (gun season) and it was 50 degrees out today. My neighbors were raking their leaves today. Last year this time, they had over 3 feet of snow. No deer for my men today but hoping next weekend they will bag em and tag em. I was raking today too for a few minutes until I was interrupted by the Packer vs Lions game.
2 - Which bring me to number 2 - I should have stayed raking. Congratulations all of you Lions fans, who are now strutting and gloating...the Lions beat the Packers at Lambeau, first time in oh...24 years. Last time that happened, Bret Favre still played for the Falcons. So go ahead and gloat, yes we are on a 3 game loss and we just beat one of the bottom teams...hey, the sun shines on a dogs ass every once in a while. Are any Yoopers who read this going to stone me now because I am dissing on the Lions? LOL - they DESERVED to win today! Let's see, the Pack let one of their rookies run 104 yards for a touchdown. WHAT? Where were they today? NOT in Green Bay!!
3 - I can't think of a third one. Besides the fact that the weather is oddly warm for this time of year and the Lions won today....I think Yoopers are just confused today..not sure how to feel. :-)

I did stumble onto another great restaurant! The place inside the Ramada Inn - Harley's - has AMAZING food. They have a new chef and she is just awesome. Anyhow, we had the fish fry and the food was omg yum, it reminded me of home, being in Wisconsin again...the fish fry was great. The fish was fresh (from the local fish market that morning) and the batter was not rubbery. It was SO delicious! We had loaded waffle fries and mozzarella whips for appetizers and they were amazing as well, took most of those home. We were very satisfied with our choice to eat that night and plan on going back, maybe for Thanksgiving dinner! (As much as I love to cook, the thought of NOT preparing ALL of that food and cleaning it all up makes me so happy inside).

So - no deer today. No win for my Packers today. But it was beautiful outside!! I got two people crossed off my Christmas list - 2 of my besties!! A little tiny bit of raking done - and I saw a lot of heavy rain in the forecast in the next few days. UGH. Yes, I think I would rather have snow than all this rain.

Toys for Tots - my office for the Home Builders Association of the Upper Peninsula is taking Toys for Tots donations! Until December 15th! I have one month left and no toys in my toybox! I want to empty this baby like 3 times! Help me out - come down to 309 South Front street in Marquette - Suite 102 and bring an unwrapped new toy for Toys for Tots!

Lots of Love - Still not a Yooper - although if the weather stays like this, I may consider it!! On the Packer side of course!! :-)

~S

Winter????

Ok so a friend of mine just asked me if I was hibernating because I have not posted in over a month. Thank you Jim for jogging my memory. I have not been hibernating believe it or not because well, up here in the U.P. we do not have snow yet!! Do you hear that? NO SNOW!!!! Ok we had one day of a little snow but it was gone by morning. It was that time of the month for mother nature that week, we had sunshine and beautiful days then tornadoes then snow then sunshine....what?? She is a bipolar bitch up here that mother nature....But it is October 27th and NO SNOW!!!! (Yes Jim, I am taunting the Gods!)

So Tony and I took a drive (ok 3 weeks ago) up to the Keweenaw Peninsula. ALLLLL the way to the tip. Past Copper Harbor, out to High Rock Bay. IT was gorgeous. Unbelievable and a great day for a drive! We went up to see fall colors but due to all of the warm weather, the Keweenaw Peninsula was a week or two behind on the color change. So while we did not get to see the beautiful colors, we did get to see High Rock, we say the Copper Harbor Lighthouse and the Eagle Harbor Lighthouse, we stopped at Jamdots. YUM. Best bakery ever. Expensive but worth it.

We went to see Trace Adkins down in Harris at the Island Resort Casino, swoon....yumyum that man is delicious. My boyfriend took me to go see my other boyfriend :-) That was a great weekend too.

The Lake up here has been bipolar as well. Some days dark and still, creepy almost, some days bright and reflecting the sun and just big and blue and somedays just wild and roaring. I am dying to see the November gails. I can't wait. 15-20 foot waves. yeah buddy.

I did have to drive downstate to Lansing for a conference last week. It was a 6 hour drive, but beautiful. On the way home, the colors weer amazing but when I got to the bridge and my sweetheart said 'Welcome Home' when I crossed into the U.P., it realllly felt like home. I got some amazing pictures of the sunset and a storm caught all together, orange and pink and purple, it was really awesome. Going to see if I can try to post it on here.

I never thought in a million years that I would live anywhere except Wisconsin and now I cannot imagine living anywhere else.

I got a brand new Cardhardt (bright red from Getz's thanks to my honey), got my boots, just need a hat and gloves and I will be good to go and blend right in. Oh and new snow tires (also thanks to my honey). He really wants me to be prepared this winter, maybe he is hoping that the winter won't scare me away! Nah, he takes good care of me. Just wait until he feels how cold my feet will be under the covers this winter! >:-}

Ok that is all for me, the boys are out for a bit and I am trying to get dinner done. Working crazy hard at work but got approved to get an intern at my job to help me out. I love having minions! Planning a big company Christmas Party, a huge forum in january with a ton of speakers and the UP Builders Show. www.upbuildershow.org if you are interested in coming up north when it is freezing cold and checking out some great companies!

:-) I am always reminded up here when I am home with the family or out by the lake, how happy I am and that a ton of money doesn't always make you happy. I may not be rich, but then again, I am.

- Livin off happiness in da Yoop....(doesn't count when I type it and not speak it so shush to anyone who calls me a Yooper)

Life is a Journey, Not a Destination

I really need a stalker on here, someone to message me and bug me every day I DON'T write. I have had a ton of things to write about and I forget or put it off. Then I forget. For those of you who don't know me, my short term memory is kind of non-existent. It's there, a tiny bit. Sticky notes are my friend. I would love to find just a voice recorder. I know my phone has one, but I mean something I can grab and push a button. On my phone I have to tap this and that and go to the app or something I think, I don't know. My ideas come to me when I drive a lot, it would be nice to have one of those little recorders, push and button and talk.

So I am kind of obsessed with the Lake up here a little. I find a reason to drive by it 3 out of 5 days a week. Either just a slow drive down Lakeshore taking it all in, or sitting by Rip Tide Rock soaking in the rays and watching the garbage geese, heading out to Presque Isle Park by the breaker wall and just enjoying the view or going out to Black Rocks and just taking it all in. That is my favorite thing to do. Just go out there and sit. Take pictures. Think. I think a lot out there. About my life as it has come to this and how much I love it up here. How very blessed and lucky I am to have found such an amazing person in my life - someone I look forward to waking up to every single day, even after a year...who I look forward to seeing when he gets home, even if he is greasy and dirty and crabby...someone I would be willing to take care of the rest of my life. And how blessed I am to live up here....amongst all this beauty. People giggle when I tell them I moved TO here and tell me most people leave up here to go find a better life somewhere else. Ok the job market is not the best. Yes there are tons of jobs here they don't all pay the highest. I have a job. Yes, part time, but I love my job. I love who I work with and who I work for. And I love that my office is right across the street from the lake (I forgot to request the lakefront view from my office in the interview so I don't have a window overlooking it unfortunately) and that I get to see it every single day. I love that there is a place I can go and feel invigorated just by smelling the air, watching the waves, like I did this morning. Steven Tyler said it best, Life is a Journey, not a Destination. And it is true. Life is too short NOT to enjoy this.

Think about how hard people work - take the mines for example, or a big corporate job working 60 hours a week. You make a lot of money. You get bills paid. You may buy new toys like vehicles and boats and ATVs, etc - but what good is it all if you miss out on all of the opportunities in life because you are working all of the time - you miss out on time with your kids and your significant others. I would rather grab those people, head to the lake and enjoy a day of beauty than miss out on one minute with them because I had to go make a few more bucks. Life is too short people. What if one day you get told you have stage 4 cancer and you have 2 months to live if that. I know someone this happened to and they were gone in 6 weeks, it went that fast. Did you kiss your loved one goodbye this morning? Did you go to bed angry? Did you kiss them when they got home and kiss them goodnight? Did you tell your children you loved them? Did you stop, and go breathe in the air at the lake this morning? I did. I could be at work getting more stuff done and making a couple more dollars for an extra hour of work. But life is too short. Too short for me to sit on Facebook all day or all night, too short to worry about a big corporate job or making $30 an hour, and too short not to pay attention to the things that really matter in life. Sure we would all love to have all of our bills paid off and live debt free and have toys to play with and a lot of people do - some worked hard for it, others hand it handed to them, some are just lucky, and some had to fight for their life health wise for it. Whatever way it came to them, good for them. And to the middle class, like my family - we don't live paycheck to paycheck and scrounge, we are not hurting - but we are not ready to retire or buy that land yet.....it will come. As long as we take time to stop and look at the lake and say good morning. And enjoy the little things. A great teacher once told me "Don't sweat the little stuff, look at the big picture." ANd he was right. Don't worry about all of the little things, look at what life has to offer you. I am lucky enough to live in one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen, including overseas....and this Lake, I think it has some magical power, it has to have really, lol. It takes me in every time. ...I still haven't jumped off Black Rocks yet. In time. I am not going anywhere.

I hope you enjoy the pictures. I know I enjoyed taking them. I took some videos of the waves close up and got kissed by the lake this morning. It was very awakening.


My shout outs for today: The Eagle Mine information center on West Washington street - if you want to see cool stuff, please go check it out. Ask Megan to do her presentation, it is pretty awesome learning about the mines and what they do and how they do it.

Last restaurant we stopped at: Pasqualis in Negaunee. First actually we went to Jackson's Pit but they were packed and had a 40 minute wait time, it was already past 8 pm. So Pasqualies it was in Negaunee - we walked in - bar tables and pool tables everywhere. You could tell they played a lot of pool at this place, hence all of the trophies on the wall. I found out they have a pool league and there are 2 men's teams from that bar that do very well. So we sat at the bar, ordered drinks and got menus. The menus are small, a few sandwiches, appetizers and pizzas. We got cheesy garlic bites for an appetizer - highly recommended, very yummy!!! Like little tiny bread sticks with cheese. YUM. So Tony went traditional Yooper and got the Cudhigi and I got the Chicken Sandwich - cheese and marina sauce. THE BREAD. OMG> so everything is bigger in the U.P. right? So the bread is huge, this sandwich is like 8 inches long and maybe 3 to 4 inches across.......and DELICIOUS! the bread is homemade right at Pasqualis and it is to dye for. I took half the sandwich home and I would not let anyone eat it, it was amazing. Highly recommended.

Sams Shoes on Third Street in Marquette. I took my favorite pair of knee high leather boots to Sam. I drove by there and realized my boots had a broken heel and I needed to swing in there to see what he could do. I got there to drop them off, he took a look at them, no problem. $10 down. It is a small shop with shoes everywhere and shoe repair supplies everywhere. He is a one man business and he does great work. So a couple of weeks later (they were done in a week I just forgot to pick them up, see paragraph one of this blog) - he charged me $15 more bucks, so $25 total. He rebuilt BOTH heels and reinforced the hell out of them. I don't know what he put inside them, but they are NOT breaking again. Great job Sam, I will be back.

Cruisin Coffee - yes I still go there even though my diet and kidney infection has kept me off my girl coffee for a couple of weeks, I stopped there yesterday actually because I was starving. Got a Snow White ice cream expresso drink that was delish and a muffin. NOMNOMNOM. :-)

Ok, if you are a radio listener, I will be on with the Fatman at 8:20 Monday morning and then on 98.3 at 7:20 or so Tuesday morning, talking about upcoming HBA stuff.

Have a great weekend and remember, please stop and enjoy the little moments. When you make your honey smile or they make you smile. When you get a hug or an I love you from your kid. When you have time to go to the lake....and not sit at home or put things off. The little things. Life is a journey, enjoy it along the way. I know my future is up here. Whether Tony and I will ever get that land and that little house out there.....who knows. We hope to someday. I plan on being by his side for the rest of our lives, who knows, maybe we can be old and sit on Black Rocks and still enjoy it.

~Loving my journey in the U.P. -

Sarah

Upgrading and Updating!

Hey there! I hope you all have exciting plans for Labor Day weekend! Me - I don't know my plans yet. I have friends that are undecided on what they are doing so I may or may not see them. SO - while a ton of folks are heading north today and tomorrow, I am heading south back to Wisconsin. As much as I love it up here, I finally found the ONE thing I don't like about being up here. I knew I was far away but the distance really got to me this week when one of my best friends went through something horrible and I could not just run over to her house to be there for her. It really broke my heart. Don't get me wrong, I would not give this up for the world...where I live and who I live with. But the sacrifices I have had to endure that I did not think were going to be that hard (cause you, I am a hard ass and I can handle anything), have recently become pretty difficult. Like seeing my son a lot less. I know I would be seeing him more if I was still in Green Bay, it is only an hour drive. He is almost 17, has a job and a truck so hanging with his old mom isn't so much fun anymore, but I still miss him like crazy - every single day and it really gets to me some days. I miss my daughter too but in a different way. She is on her own now and we talk alllll of the time. So she is not under mama's wing any longer. I like to think my almost 17 year old 'baby' boy still is. That, and not being able to just be there in an instant for my best friends. I used to run over in pajamas when there was a crisis. With a bottle of wine, a fist ready to hurt whoever hurt them or just a hug. Now, it has to be planned almost. A three hour drive there and back, that's half a day. It was really hard this week not being able to be there for her. Again, I would not trade this for the world. I made the decision to move and I would never rethink that decision. I absolutely love it up here. Love my job, love my boyfriend, love his kid, miss the hell outta mine, lol. And well, it hasn't snowed yet. What more could a Cheesehead girl living in Yooperland ask for?

So the title - upgrading - I switched to Windows 10 and I LOVE IT!!! It automatically transfers all the pics on my phone (over 900 of them) right to my PC so I can FINALLY start deleting pics off my phone! LOVE THAT!! AND I have access to all of the music on my computer right thru my phone. IT is amazing and I love it! One fun thing I love is that I can write on the web page - I will try it when I get this post done and see if it works! Ha! Draw, scribble, write, it is awesomeness! So happy! I need some wine...finish post first....:-)

For some reason, my laptop is still being an asshole when it comes to uploading pictures to my posts on this site. I can do it from work but not from this laptop, it wants to freeze. Gonna keep trying it.

New things in the last 2 weeks - PUR Salon - near KFC on Washington Street - AWESOME!! You want your hair done and to look and feel gorgeous? Go see Neily Collick at PUR Salon, she rocks. And gives great scalp massages. Hairgasms!!!!!

I tried Togo's subs, they were really yummy. They did mess up my very first order but they gave me a free giant cookie brownie thing so they were forgiven right away!

Byma Chripractor - he is very laid back, easy to talk to, not a stiff doctor type and he didn't tell me I needed to lose weight and I would feel better, so he gets brownie points in my book already :-) He gets a little rough sometimes but it is what it is. I find the fun in that by texting my boyfriend that the doc hurt my butt today. :-)

So work is crazy. Getting geared up for Contractor Demo Days. Looking for equipment people, tool vendors, whoever I can get...going slow but hoping to keep the momentum up and get a bunch of vendors here in the next couple of weeks. Marquette County Fairgrounds. Thursday Sept 24th - come see. I think there may be a page for it at www.upbuilders.org. Check it out.

I am loving the Yooper weather right now. In the mornings and at night it is like fall and during the day it has been like summer, it is pretty perfect right now. There is an evil big red machine in my backyard (I am pretty sure my boyfriend put it there to tempt the snow gods), waiting for a dump of snow. -_- NO - no snowblowers yet. NO TO FLUFFY RAIN!!! STAY AWAY!!!! God help me the first day it snows, he is going to be dancing around the house in his underwear like a kid on Christmas morning...happier than a fat kid with a cupcake. Silly Yooper people loving snow and stuff.....

:-) That's all from me. One of these days when I have time I will get pictures on all of these posts so you all can SEE what I am talking about!

~Here 4.5 months so far and not a Yooper. Doing good on that part. No Accent. No ya der heys from this gal. I do want a Yooper hat. And a giant ass flyswatter from Da Tourist Trap. :-)

``````Sorry Snow Gods - We are not ready for you yet``````

~Loving Summers End
Sarah

Where Did It Go??

Have you seen it?? Where did it go?? IS it over by you??? If so, send it back!!! I think SUMMER has left!!!! NOOOOOOO!!!! So it rained ALL night, nothing wrong with that, the sound was very soothing and it was nice and cool out. Both of us slept like babies. Not hot, not stuffy, no humidity. It was pretty awesome. This is my favorite time of year (I am calling it Fall already) - In August, what? Usually August is full of sweat and humidity and 90 to 100 degree weather and sunburns and everything. Nope not here. Highs in the 70's lately during the day, down in the 50's at night. It is kind of awesome.

The leaves are changing already. Yes that was sooner than I expected. I will have to quick take pictures of the fall colors (maybe I can convince honey to take me for a nice fall colors drive when they all start turning) before it all turns white. NOT looking forward to that. I do need my Yooper hats before winter. I am not a Yooper but I will blend in nicely :-)

The Lake was pretty awake yesterday morning, crashing up against the rocks, wind blowing. She was quite vocal. I had an hour to kill before work so I sat by Rip Tide Rock and read my book (on my phone of course). My senses come alive when I am at the lake. The sounds of the Lake, whether it is waves crashing madly against the shoreline or calm serene waters and seagulls harping overhead.....either way....the sounds are soothing. The smell is reassuring that I am in the right place and the feeling of it, well, it is invigorating. And the taste....better than bottled water. I tasted it out at Black Rocks on a day when the lake was crystal clear and super cold. (ok that's any day right?) - and ya it was cold. I took some home in a bottle and let Tonys son taste it before I told him where it was from, he was amazed. I have some at home in a little bottle, next to a little piece of driftwood. :-)

Ok back to work. Anyhow, if you see summer, send it back will ya? I am not quite ready for the Yooper winter yet....

~Searching for Summer

xoxo
~S

All Paths Lead to the Lake

Hey all - I have been meaning to get back on here for a while but you know, life gets in the way. Especially when you live somewhere as beautiful as the Upper Peninsula, by Lake Superior - yeah. It doesn't get much better. We don't actually live ON the lake, but we live 20 minutes from it and we both work right near it. Him a mile or so away and me, right across the street. I still don't have any pictures up here do I? One of these days readers will come on here and BAM there will be a giant slideshow of all things Yooper. That is what I will so, start taking pictures of all things Yooper. The Pasty. The Cudhigi. The Stormy Kromer hat. The giant plows and shovels. The Snow. ALL the snow. The Chooks. The lake in all its frozen beauty. All of it. Then some year I will figure out how to post them all on here.

Ok so I just attempted to throw a picture on here of me from last winter...I won't know if it works until I am done typing away and I actually go look. Ok, the suspense is killing me....hold on please........


YAY!!!! It worked!!! Now I get to go back and put pictures on ALLLLLL of my posts!!! How fun and exciting and now I can bombard you all with pictures! I do not know if it will work if you get these posts in your email, but if you are looking at the actual website, you will see my chubby cheeks up there!! :-)

So, I still have not jumped off Black Rocks and I really want to but not when there is a ton of people there. Maybe I should just do it. Walk up there, don't even hesitate and just jump the hell off. Walk out of the water, get in my car and leave. LMAO. :-) Maybe? Ok, we will see how well that works. The other half and I did go swimming in the lake down by the Ore Dock last night with the mutt. She was not too keen on the water but she had fun zooming back and forth along the beach. Well, cause that is what mutts do. They have surface area, they must run.

I have projects I am working on. A couple. I need some nice pictures of sailboats for one and I have to pick out a nice picture of the lake for the other one. I found a great little shop down in Berlin, WI I am dying to go spend money at and get back here. I must start purchasing supplies. Hot glue gun, canvas, paper, decent paintbrushes.....(Tony is going to be ready this going, christ what is she doing now!) cause chances are (very good) that he will have to help me with some part of it....you know, that honey do list. As long as it involves fixing something, he is ready with tool in hand...or putting something together for me or sawing..if he can use a tool, he is in. After all, he is a man. Give them a tool and a beer and all is good. :-) I will post pictures of my projects when they are done. The last one was a couple of American Flags made from pallets from Dales back yard. The stars were not exactly straight, hey I am a beginner, and NOT a professional artist! One is on our porch and the other is at Dales house. I am going to buy him a new flag one of these days. Just because. His is, well, not healthy. Bugs me. Maybe I will go change it while he is gone this weekend. Muahahaha.


Trying to think of new places I may have gone but I got nothing for you. Went to the Vierling again and had their French Onion soup again. That was awesome as always. Cruisin Coffee is still a favorite....I did go to the Wawonowin Golf Course in Ishpeming, NOT to golf, never been on a course in my life, but to work at the HBA golf outing, that was fun and their food was good. Bartender Anna was awesome but she headed off to school in Green Bay. It was fun :-)

I still have not seen the Northern Lights. Figured I would have by now up here but I have plenty of time. Not going anywhere any time soon. I am enjoying the spurts of fall temperatures. The weather up here is a bit bi-polar I think.....

As always, the Lake pulls me in every morning I drive to work. If I have time, I go get my fix. After work sometimes too. I took the dog out driving around by the lake yesterday. We stopped along Lakeshore, took some pictures of the rainbow....always a good time and always good to breathe it in. Have you ever smelled the Lake up here? There is something about the way a place smells to me. Good mojo or bad mojo. This is just a me thing I think but it smells good up here. Stand out on Black Rocks once, or on any little beach spot on the lake and take a huge deep breath in and smell the air around you. It smells good. It smells like the right place to be.

Out of all of the paths you take in life, make sure one of them leads you to the Lake.

All for now - Have a great weekend and enjoy what is left of your Yooper summer. :-)

~~S

Pictured Rocks Cruise - Munising, MI

So it has been a couple of weeks since I last wrote. I visited another beautiful place! Let me start off my giving some shout outs, I don't remember if I did last time. So Cruisin Coffee on Third and Prospect is my new coffee love. French Vanilla or White Chocolate. To die for. So I have only lived here for three months. I moved up on April 18th. But it has been one year this weekend since I started dating my sweetiepie. So, we had these gift certificates for the Pictured Rock boat cruise in Munising (Thank you to Rosemary at The Eagle, you rock!!) so Saturday, we headed out.

We stopped first at the Renaissance Faire in Ishpeming. TO be honest, I was a little disappointed, as far as Ren faires go. I have seen a couple and they are supposed to be about the lifestyle the people lived back then, teaching you about the way they lived, their dress, their skills, their cooking, weaponry, etc. This one was very small and basically was more like a little vendor fair. There were vendors there that had nothing to do with the Renaissance era. We took the dog and walked around though, it was a beautiful day. And I got a grape snowcone on the way out. Worth it.

Off to Munising. So we got there early, tootled around. Rosemary I remember told me to stop at Johnny Dogs if we ever went there so we found it. A small roadside place right downtown - one little deck with a few tables and some counters and a couple of picnic tables off the deck. They serve gourmet hotdogs and sandwiches. OMG it was amazing! Tony had Shawns G Dog and I had the chili cheese, I do plan on going back some day. I spotted something with orange BBQ and pulled pork or something I am dying to try. So we loved that, we were very satisfied. Then we drove around a bit, stopped at the Frozen Flamingo for a cone and headed over to the boat cruise for 4 PM. We got the LAST 2 tickets. I guess we should have planned a little better. For anyone ever planning on going, if you want to sit in the upper deck, you have to get there about an hour before the boat leaves. So we sat in lower deck, I was disappointed but not for long. The cruise was gorgeous. They tell you the history of Munising and of Grand Island and everything you pass. The colors and rock formations that are made just from all of the erosion is just gorgeous. We passed Lovers Leap and Miners Castle and Battleship Row - all rock formations you learn about on the cruise. We even went inside Chapel Cove, which was pretty awesome. Lake Superior is so clear, it really just made me want to jump in the water.

IT was just a gorgeous day out and perfect for the cruise, we really enjoyed it. Oh we did go up to the Grand Island scenic overlook to take some pictures too! Someday when I figure out how to post pictures on here, I will get a slideshow up of all of the wonderful places we have gone.

I still am in love with Lake Superior. It never gets old. The drive in never gets old. Seeing it every day before and after work never gets old. GOing out and picking rocks and just putting my feet in the water (I do this quite often) - it never gets old. I know I will be whiney this winter, as I do not like the cold and the snow, but I will get used to it, just like I did in Green Bay. And summer will come back again. And the lake will always be here. To me, even though I am 40, this is a whole new beginning up here, a whole new future and I could not imagine spending it with anyone else.

Tonight we spent a couple hours at the Ore Dock Brewing company jamming out with blues singer Charlie Parr. Very entertaining and he has a bad ass stainless steel guitar - made in Saginaw, MI. We won't hold that against him.

:-)
To another beautiful weekend in the U.P. - I see a lot of future here. ENJOY THE PICS!

Gnight xoxoxox

~S

Updating!

For those of you that don't go on the blog much, I have updated the lists on the side - check them out! If you get this in your email, you probably do not see the whole blog so check it out online, way more fun to read it online!

http://sarahslifeupnorth.blogspot.com/

Later Yoopers!

Black Rocks Fail

For housekeeping first - I edited the format on this blog so I hope now that the paragraphs are all split up like they are supposed to be. I had not realized it for a while that they were all lumping together in one long novel of a blog..when I did figure it out I did not know how to change it. Very simple so I hope it is easier to read now.

So my son Jon came up last weekend and we headed out to Black Rocks to jump in. Jon decided he was not going to already and I had reservations. Neither one of us has ever been crazy about jumping into water off of rocks from high places. Tony and his son had no problems whatsoever. So, Black Rocks Fail for me, I did not get to cross it off the bucket list! Presque Isle Park was very busy that day and so was Black Rocks itself. People lined up along the top, gathering up whatever courage they could find to jump into the chilling waters below. Chilling. Let's talk about that for a second. Jon and I walked into the lake so I could get pictures of the guys jumping in. After 5 minutes, our feet were numb. When they get numb you can just keep going because you can no longer feel anything! LOL. Tony and his son jumped in a few times, along with other people - college aged, middle aged and even older. It was a fun day. We went to Lake Superior Pizza, one of our favorite little spots and broke Jon in on the experience of a fresh pizza roll.

Wednesday night was the Highway Clean Up for the HBA where I work. It was great to see so many people show up. We had 14 people there this year and the picnic was great even if there was a mosquito or two here and there. I met some new faces and was glad to spend time with some familiar ones.

The week flew by. Not sure where it went folks but July is almost over. So I have to comment, when it gets above 90 up here, do Yoopers start melting? I heard it is not too common that it gets very very hot and when it does, they flock to the lake. And flock they do. I was out at Black Rocks last night picking rocks and taking pictures for a house project I am working on and it was just packed. There must have been 50 people there. But again, gorgeous. I would love to take a giant picnic basket out there, a thick blanket to sit on, a pillow and a thinner blanket for when it gets chilly, bottle of wine....just watch the sun set, watch the stars come out. Some day.

So August 1st, Tony and I will have been together one whole year. Holy Wah, isn't that what Yoopers say? Don't worry, I haven't gone Yooper. I just can't believe some days how very much my life has changed in the past year. I went from being in a place where life was humdrum. I was going thru the motions every day. Stuck in a job that I really liked but with no advancement, healing from a very crappy divorce.....and just living day by day. I had no idea what the rest of my life was going to be like. Now, I live up here. In the U.P. of all places! With the most amazing man I know who puts up with my whining, my girlie but I am a bad ass attitude, my broken parts, and I am sure 100 other annoying things, but he puts up with it all....who would have thought someone as wonderful as him would have fallen in love with someone like me....and shared this whole world up here with me. I thank him all the time for sharing the lake with me, for sharing Black Rocks. It really has put life into perspective for me and if this is any indication of what the rest of my life is going to be like, then I am good right where I am. Someday I am sure I will open my big mouth and make a silly bet with him that I lose....and end up with a Yooper Girl sticker on my car.....oh lord help me hold my tongue! Anyhow, we are planning dinner and dancing and hopefully that weekend going on the Pictured Rock cruise over in Munising (Thank you Rosemary!). I am looking forward to it. Oh and I found a new wine at Coco's I am going to shop for - Mango Moscato - sparkling. YUM!! I loved it!

Positives this week - my diet has been working, well kind of. Lost a couple of pounds here and there. I cheat. I deal with it. I got to spend an amazing weekend with my three boys who I love dearly. Even though Tony's son is not mine, I love him like he is my own. I can never replace his mama, nor do I ever want to or intend to but my mother hen instincts just kick in when it comes to those two boys. They are so much alike in some ways and so different in others. I love that Jon loves the scenery up here better than out in Wyoming where is Grandma lives. Ha, take that Grandma. :-)

Off subject. Plans tonight, Pizza Hut in Ishpeming. Maybe someday I will figure out how to get pictures on this blog.
Tomorrow - the sweetie and I are going to relive our youth and travel to Oshkosh, WI and go see Def Leppard in concert! One of our songs is by them so it will be very awesome. Young kids watch out. Middle aged rockers who wanna be young again for a day coming through!!!! :-)

Have a great weekend Yooperland. Find joy in your journey this weekend, wherever it may lead to, and hopefully, it leads you to the lake.

xoxox
~S

Beaver Island

So, I hope everyone's Fourth of July was as fun as mine. Beaver Island with a bunch of friends was amazing. So before I go down that road and tell you all about it, let me remind my readers that if you are getting this in your email, please check out the actual website. There is much more. :-) www.sarahslifeupnorth.blogspot.com. Thanks!!

So, Friday morning we all crawled out of bed at 3 am. Ok, maybe my better half crawled. I moved like a slug or a sloth....slithering out of the covers and through the bedroom. Not a morning person. Everything had been packed the night before, a few things left to throw in the car but none of us were moving too quickly. We had a 5 hour drive ahead of us. We finally left at 330 am. The kid and dog in the back seat and Tony driving. It was actually a pretty ride. We had to drive down to Charlevoix to catch the 0830 ferry over to the island. It seemed like the drive was taking forever and time was moving slow. We made one stop to a McDonalds for a pee break, walk the dog, grab some grub and onward. Once we hit Hwy 31, everything slowed right down. Construction. Ugh, on a holiday weekend, come on. So that put us behind. We got to Charlevoix, quick unloaded the car and Tony ran to park it, which was about 1/4 of a mile away. We waited and waited. There is usually a shuttle that would have brought him back but of course the bridge went up and traffic was at a halt. It was at about 830 ish am that we saw him running in our direction the same time that we heard "Last Call for boarding!" Good timing.

The ferry ride over was beautiful. A sailboat here or there, gorgeous sunny day. Well I made one rookie mistake. I left all of our booze with our luggage to be packed on the boat!! :-( No beers for us on the way over! Oh well. Next time we know! Once we got to the island, two of our friends were there waiting for us, one I already knew from home and a new friend - our host (well, him and his parents hosted us). SO, piled into the pick up truck and down the block to the market, beer run, dog food, etc. Then back in the truck. My better half and a friend in the bed of the truck in nice comfy wooden chairs just chillin. Bartender was quick and on point. It's the island. It's allowed.

Beaver Island is a beautiful place, to visit and I would imagine to live as well. It is only about 12 or 13 miles long and about 6 or 7 miles wide. There are trails through the woods that make for a beautiful ride. There are roads long the lake that make any little journey a breathtaking one. And every sunset is more amazing than the last. The little shops are unique, attracting all kinds of tourists. One very neat place we stopped was the Toy Museum. I honestly cannot remember if that was what it was called or if there is an actual name for it but that is what we called it. FILLED with old toys, from my generation, from your generation, from the generations of our parents and grandparents. It was pretty neat. There is an airport, where packages are delivered and flights run in and out of. There are 2 lighthouses I believe, one we went and visited and it was beautiful. I love lighthouses and to my delight, so did Sarah, our gracious host.

So I normally do not drop names in my blogs but I feel the need to here. Andy Stone is a friend of Tony's and has been for years. His parents, Sarah (Rohner) and Jeff Stone own the house we all stayed at. IT was just beautiful. You could have used it as a bed & breakfast! The enclosed porch wrapped around facing the lake, it was so peaceful. I loved it and I really hope to go back sometime and be able to do some shopping and touristy stuff. I absolutely loved their garage - above the 2 car garage was basically a little apartment with a lighthouse 'tower'. AMAZING! I had to pick my jaw up. There were lighthouses everywhere in the house. Love love loved it. She has wonderful taste! And there were books everywhere, I love reading too! They were so gracious and kind to let all of us invade their home, it really was a good time.

We took the island tour, all except a couple that had not shown up yet. We saw the big Birch tree, the big Rock, all little spots that are on the map. Even Sarah's house is on the map and Andy's Trail (although Tony and I found out the next day that you need a chainsaw to get down Andy's Trail). We dipped out toes into Lake Michigan, cold as you could stand it. Still not as cold as Lake Superior but cold. We socialized, we drank. A few of the boys took that latter activity to heart. LOL The food was great and the company was even better!

The only thing we missed was the actual July 4th party at the neighbors house. We did show up to say hi, make an appearance, met some nice people, saw another beautiful house on Lake 'G' and ate some great food, but the guys were having fun with bottle rockets and fire crackers and Jaymee, our dog, was scared out of her mind, shaking and trying to hide. So instead of just comforting her and being selfish and having fun, we decided to say good night and head back to the house. We made a mad dash through a short trail of mosquito infested forest and then chilled out for the night. No fireworks for us, but that is ok.

A weekend most memorable, a bunch of new friends I hope to keep in touch with and a very very long sleepy ferry ride home. Next time - fly or bring the booze and food on the ferry on the way over! :-) And shopping next time! :-)

Of course, going back to work this week has been crazy hectic so I did not have time to blab until now. Still hunting for part time work for additional income. Still loving my job. :-)

~Here's to good friends, good food, and conversation...;-)
~S

Happy 4th of July!!

So today is my Friday. It is actually Thursday which makes it even better. Tomorrow morning 0300, my family - minus my kids (one in Ohio and one working down in Omro, WI) are heading out to Beaver Island. Taking the ferry from Charlevoix to the Island. My better half has a great friend with a house there, well his parents do, and it is an annual thing. Thank you Mr and Mrs Stone(r) ahead of time. I am SO looking forward to a weekend away where I don't have to do anything except eat, drink and relax. Ahhhhh. I will update the blog on my return as to how life on the island went. I hope you all have a safe and happy 4th!! On the work side - I have met a lot of great people this week from HBA members to people in the community and I am excited as ever about my job, my role in the HBA. Exciting things happening - Golf Outing, Highway Cleanup, Backpack Drive for the Professional Women in Building, and the Contractor Demo Days. Looking for sponsors, door prize donations, exhibitors, all kinds of things so this is what I do. I organize and recruit. :-) Maybe this month I will get back with the Fatman and talk about things. Get my radio nerves a little boost. Speaking of Radio, I met Rosemary Smith, VP at The Eagle/The Point/The Bay whatever it is you listen to. She is a pretty awesome person. And she brought me girl coffee, she is a friend already. :-) Glad to have met her and will be working lots with her in the future! :-) Happy 4th! Watch where you put your firecrackers! ~S

The Pasty and The Fatman. U.P. Style.

So there have been a couple of things I have forgotten to write about. Shame on me. One is the Pasty. I finally had a real one. It was from a grocery store deli but it was made fresh, still hot and smelled great. Bought it at the Jubilee IGA store on Hwy 41 in Ishpeming. So I took it home and threw it on a plate. Covered half of it with ketchup, as instructed by any Yooper ever I have talked to about pasties. I knew I was not going to eat it all, it was the size of my plate. A dinner plate. huge. So I started eating. And it was good. It was nothing like the fake one I had down in Green Bay, dry and no taste, even with a bottle of ketchup, no this one was moist, very flavorful both the filling and the crust. Now I need to get to Lawry's and have one and over to Jean Kay's, my favorite deli. Then I will compare pasties. So, so far, I am a fan. My job lets me network with all kinds of people in all kinds of industries. Construction companies, home remodelers, window installers, insurance brokers, bankers, and media personalities like The Fatman on 100.3 The Point, out of Marquette. So I was nervous to go talk to him on the radio. I just don't like being on the radio. He was introducing me to the community for the Home Builders Association, with me being the new Executive Officer and all. So I talked about this and that, it was short and sweet. I don't think I did too awful, but if you started counting the times I said UM, you may need your toes. :-) The next food item on my list is one of those Finnish Pancakes and I can never remember the name of them. That and Das Steinhaus. Dying to try that place, I love German food. :-) Food on the brain - Sarah

A Quiet Storm, Short and Sweet

It was Monday today. Work went fine, that was short and sweet. Then over to the DJ Jacobetti Vets Home to fill out paperwork. Got home and for some reason, on the way home, I just got in a funk. I was kind of glad no one was home, I was just in a mood. In a funk. A painful funk - hips, knees and back all screaming at me (guessing the weather?)...and just an emotional funk along with it. Not sure why. It was a funk that brought emotions to the brim and almost tears to go with it. You know those days. Sad songs, everything upsets you. Anyhow, I own a journal that I actually write in. With a pen. Not on the computer. So I wrote. It doesn't fix things but it lets me get it off my chest. And on paper. And then I don't think about it so much because it is there in my book and not so much in my head. So I washed the dishes. Then just needed to get out of the house. So I drove to the nearest gas station, bought a couple of things....and decided I needed to go for a drive. And where did I end up. At Lake Superior of course. I stopped by Presque Isle Park. There were way too many people there for me to be chirpy and social today so I drove on. To Black Rocks. Planned on sitting out there for a while but it started raining. And not just raining, pouring. Buckets. There were kids running around in shorts and enjoying the warm summer rain, because it really wasn't cold. And the sun was shining. Really bright. It was kind of weird and kind of beautiful. A crazy kind of beautiful. So I sat in my car. Then it stopped raining so I opened my door to get out and mother nature had other plans and she let loose again and rain just came pouring down. Ok, I got the hint. I closed my door and drove on. Right around the corner from Black Rocks is a beautiful little spot called Sunset Point. I pulled over. As the sun was going down just a bit, it was shining crazy bright over the water, and it was still raining. It was really something to see. So I drove on, wanting to pull over at every little spot in the road there was to pull over and watch this but I drove on. Coming out of the park there was a big beautiful rainbow. Click, took a picture. By the way, I have to apologize, this blog still will not let me post pictures in my posts. Not sure why. And I don't have the patience these days to find out. So back up to the park. And there were a dozen cars there and people snapping pictures left and right. I got out and became a tourist again and when I got to the edge of the water, I saw why.....the rainbow stretched lazily over the lake. It ended right in front of us. If you looked back to the West, where it started, all you could see was white in the distance on the top of the lake. The storm front on the water. I wish it would have been closer. I am not sure how many pictures I took, the sky, the clouds, several of the rainbow and then some of the double rainbow. Headed home, and within an hour there was another rainbow at home but the sky, off to the West, the sun was still bright and the sky was SO blue. It was really breathtaking. I know I write about the lake a lot. But I can't help it. It seems like it is never the same every time you go there. So I am sure I will update you again on the same lake, on a different beautiful day. And that is really all for this Monday. It was a Monday, an eh Monday, but it ended up being a very beautiful Monday night. xoxox Loving the sky over the lake.... ~s

Father's Day in the U.P. - and some new experiences

Black Rocks, Coco's, Maritime Museum, The Port Side, a car show, the Iron Ore Museum, Country Grill and Da Yooper Tourist Trap. All a part of our Father's Day weekend. Tony's dad, Lincoln, came up to see us for Father's Day weekend. Of course we had to take him site seeing...he fell in love with Black Rocks, as I did when I first saw it. You can't explain Black Rocks to people and you can't take a picture and get them to feel how you did when you went to see it. It is something they need to see and experience for yourself. The beauty, the magnificence of it all, the sounds of the waves, gently slapping up against the rocks....so lightly, but hard enough to say hey, I am here and I am magnanimous.....the smell...of the clean air, of the lake, just all of it. There are no words that I can tell you to make you fully understand it all or even imagine the experience and there are no pictures that can show you. It would be a picture of some big black rocks and a lake. It would be beautiful. But it would not be YOUR experience. I believe everyone who comes to Black Rocks has their own experience, their own emotions. I have had many. From pure happiness in realizing that I know I made the right decision in moving up here to just emotional sorrow, letting go of some things that needed to be let go of. It is a good place to do that - to let go of things, but it is a good place to go and just smile and let the wind touch your face, and to be in love and be happy and healthy...it is just a good place to be who you are.

Ok enough of that sappiness. So off to lunch, we stopped at Coco's, which I have been dying to go try! So I was excited!! I was expecting it to be a little more formal than it was but I was not disappointed. It had a very casual lakeside atmosphere about it, which is what it was, a very casual lakeside restaurant. Our waiter was Ethan and he was very awesome - the customer service was great, he took care of everything, checked on us many times, and made sure we were well taken care of. The food, well, the food was amazing. I had the French Dip and it was just outstanding. The boys had burgers and Tony's dad had a Rueben and everyone was very very pleased with their food. Oh, and if you are a fan of sweet potato, order them here...there is a to die for maple dip they give you. Heaven. Tony and I WILL be coming back here on date night to test out dinner!! The next stop was the Maritime Museum. We knew Lincoln would like this, as he has been a sailor all of his life. So off to the museum we went and it was very neat. Even if you are not a sailor or a fisherman or anything of the sort (like me), it was still pretty neat to read about the history of some of the big shipwrecks on Lake Superior. And they have a pretty neat gift shop. Someday I will go back, there are little light houses there that need to be in my house. :-)

After the Maritime Museum, we headed out to Lankenenland. This is the park full of Junkyard Art. You can read about this in a previous post. That was very enjoyable as well. Back into town, we went to the Port Side for dinner. I went here once before and I had ordered the wrong thing and didn't like it, it was a fish I knew I didn't like, but had forgotten. So anyhow, we all ate...I had a chimichanga and it was SO filling and SO amazing YUUM. The rest is sitting in my fridge. Again, everyone happy with their meals. Forgive me, I cannot remember our waitress's name - short blonde spiky hair I believe. She was awesome too. Another hit. Back home and we all pretty much crashed. It was a long day in the U.P. and we were all done for. So Sunday we headed out to the Yooper Tourist Trap. This is always a hit with visitors, well, because it has everything Yooper and you can spend hours in there reading all of the fun stuff they have. After our purchases there (why can't I ever leave there without spending money), off to the Country Grill for brunch. They were busier than we had ever seen them but we got in and got seated. The buffet was good as usual, and we were stuffed again. After food we hit Negaunee for the car show and the Iron Ore Museum. The car show was interesting, not a ton of cars there but some neat ones, including my Bronco on the way out. Someday. The Iron Ore Museum is A LOT of information. You could spend a weekend reading all about the history, the process, the past-present of mining and how they lived, all kinds of stuff. Note...do not touch the red rocks in the cart....they stain. In my defense, there was no sign telling me not to play with the red rocks. After another long day, we headed home and dad headed back south. It was a good weekend and a great visit.

On a more personal note, I know now where my boyfriend gets his amazing personality and his big heart from. Thanks for the visit Link, you are welcome back anytime. No guns at the window, I promise ;-) Happy Father's Day to all of the dads out there, whether you are a dad, a stepdad, a grandfather, a single mom with no dad around to help with the kids, all of you. Thank you for being there for your kids. And I hope your weekend was as blessed as mine was. ~Sarah

Contractor Demo Days

I have to put in a plug for my event coming up in the fall - Contractor Demo Days - September 24th from 11 am to 8 pm. It is at the Marquette County Fair Grounds. It is everything a contractor or builder needs in a show. There will be tool suppliers. There will be heavy equipment dealers digging holes and showing off their equipment, parts suppliers, pick up truck dealers, safety equipment, Cardhardt, all kinds of stuff! And the U.P. Home Builders Association is providing free food. :-) I will post reminders close to the event but if you are a business and you want to show off your products or services to the contractors in the U.P, please email me! info@upbuilders.org Keep Diggin! Sarah

My Morning Commute

I have to brag a little to all of my friends who DON'T live up here. Well, this summer anyhow. This winter, they will be laughing at me. I love my morning commute. I say that with visions of the lake in my head. Teal Lake. Lake Superior. (there will be a duplicate blog this winter about my morning commute and it will not be so nice and happy. It will probably be written out of frustration with shaky hands from days of white knuckling my steering wheel). The traffic is not too terrible. It flows pretty smooth. I drive through Ishpeming on highway 41 and then down the hill past Teal Lake in Negaunee. It really is a pretty little lake. Sometimes like glass, sometimes covered with fog, sometimes with ice and snow. Any day you pass it, it's beautiful. It's like Lake Superiors VERY baby sister. A spec of water to the big lake but still. Still pretty. Once you come up the ridge and around the corner, you see the big lake, Lake Superior, well most days you can see it. Some days it is bright blue and you just take a breath in. Some days it is all white and you cannot see where the lake ends and the sky begins. When I park at my office, I am at the Marina pretty much, well across the street. I park by the lake every morning on Spring Street. I know, it's terrible. I take it in every morning. Again, come back this winter and look for my post on my morning commute. I guarantee it will be way different. Anyhow. Drive from Ish to Marquette someday. You will see what I am talking about. :-)

Lankenenland Visit

Morning folks! Sorry I haven't written in a week - life was happening!!! It is Monday June 15th - my little brothers birthday. Happy Birthday Brian Timm in Colorado. I hope you are having a fantastic day today. It is sunny and beautiful outside and it is going to be a great day. Of course, by this afternoon, it would be storming. Or snowing. Because the weather up here has a mind of its own. So I had a new experience yesterday. No, not grocery shopping with my love, both walking around half sleep walking like zombies, that isn't new, I have done that before, lol. He took me to Lankenenland. If you have never been there, please Google it. It is a little place out on M28 - free to the public - a park kind of, full of junkyard art. Tom Lankenen builds junkyard art, out of scrap. I can't name off everything that is there because I can't possibly remember everything - but there were spaceships and motorcycles, dinosaurs, mermaids, pigs, trains, ghosts, a tank or a boat maybe both, a skeleton or 2, monsters, funny things and creepy things. It is really really neat to see. You can park the car and walk the trails checking out all of the neat sculptures or you can drive around in the car. It is a beautiful drive along Lake Superior to get there from Marquette on M28 East. Worth the day trip folks! Next time I will be taking pictures and maybe walking! :-) So I took a new job up here. Executive Director of the Upper Peninsula Home Builders Association. Fancy title huh? Anyhow, I get to put on a Contractors Demo Days with other folks helping me out - it will be pretty awesome. Big machines showing off, vendors to show their stuff to you contractors out there. :-) Very exciting stuff. I will post more about it when the time comes. Well off to make the mad dash off death across Hwy 41 then stopping at Holiday to grab some girl coffee. It's going to be a beautiful day. What is your favorite Yooper thing? - Having a sunshiny day - Sarah

Funny thought about Mos-Qui-tos

I had a quick thought about mosquitos before I sign off for the night. It is included in part of my blog title because, well, I have never seen mosquitos swarm like Oshkosh lake flies anywhere ever until I came up here. They hover....and they are huge. They really are the Yooper state bird. I will have to invest in a huge bucket of bug spray. Or a shot gun. Shot gun may kill more in one shot. Maybe. And the little fuckers hurt when they bite and silently drain you of every ounce of your life's liquid gold. It's doesn't quiet feel like when you get blood drawn but that is starting to become much more appealing.....;-) Haha. If you see mosquitos coming, just start swatting. Or shooting. Or use the shovel still left out in case it snows again. That's it. Shovel and swat. ;-) A wise man told me that once. And if you HEAR mosquitos coming, well, don't get too frightened, it may just be my old man's Saturn. Gotta love him. Swat away my friends. Make it funnier on the mosquitos and get wasted. That way you can at least laugh at them as they stagger-fly away lit up on a belly full of beer or whiskey. shovel and swat - Sarah

An Inspiring Lady

If any of you are ever looking for someone to help lift your spirits, maybe give you a positive outlook on life or just a little bit of motivation - I want to introduce you to an amazing young lady. Since she was little - she had a mighty temper. And by mighty I mean Mighty Joe Young mighty. She threw tantrums and stomped, everything she wanted her way. (I don't think that has changed much....I will have to ask her fiancé). She loved to hunt and fish with her dad and go out in the mud and then come inside and put on a crown and her prettiest dress. She was a princess who knew how to run with the boys and she still is today. She is now 20 and engaged to be married to someone very worthy of her. He puts up with her emotional spins....he is worthy. Seriously though, she has been through a lot in her lifetime from divorced parents, going through a troubled middle school life with no self esteem, a tumor on her breast, an ATV accident and knee surgery, the loss of several people close to her and an astounding journey to find Jesus on her own. She makes this mama so very proud and if there was anyone I could have live closer to me it would be her and her brother. Please give it a whirl. Stop and say hi to her. My kid. HeatherLee Schwersenska and her motivational blog: http://internationalinspiration.blogspot.com/ Thanks for checking in. Pay it forward my friends.... Have a great week in the U.P. - and hurry and do it before summer is gone.... xoxox S

Lazy Days

It's Sunday today. It started raining early this morning, about 2 or 3 AM. My allergies have been in high gear the last 4 days. Worst I have seen them in a very long time. I hope it doesn't rain a lot this summer, ugh. So today marks one year that my handsome better half sent me a friend request on Facebook and we started chatting again for the first time in 24 years. Never in a million years did I think I would be living up in Ishpeming, Michigan, the Upper Peninsula.....in a world where time runs a little slower, in a place where a person can just be at peace if they want to be....and with a man that I have loved, well, apparently since 1991. For 24 years. Someone deep inside, there laid an ember...just one little tiny ember still warm and glowing...and a year ago, he was the wind that picked it up stoked it.....brought it back to life. And living here just feeds those sparks and embers. I find new reasons every day to love him even more and to love it up here even more. I do have my days. When I miss the back of a motorcycle, I miss getting all decked out in my Harley attire and feeling all sassy, I do miss those days. Those days are more prominent now, as friends of my post their pictures of fun in the sun. And I will have those days and they will pass. And I wouldn't give up my life right now for any of it. People ask me why I move up here and I tell them and they think I am crazy. They say no one MOVES HERE intentionally. They all move away to get better jobs. I moved to Green Bay, WI to get a better job, about 4 to 5 years ago. I got 2 betters jobs and a great education and met some of my favorite people in the world. But I didn't move here to get a better job. I moved here to be with someone I can't imagine being without. I followed my heart. Three hours north. I wouldn't leave. I have no regrets. I miss my friends and that life I used to live. Change is hard. I have gone from Harley tank tops and bandanas, skull jewelry and riding in the wind, most of the times included drinking a lot - to a much slower paced life - of reading books I needed to catch up on, writing this new blog and more on my other blogs, meeting new people, starting a new job (it is never easy being the new person), and hopefully get myself a girl truck to go trail riding in or just pissing around. Trail riding and mudding are a big thing up here. I have done this before and I enjoyed it then. I enjoy it more now because of the company I keep. I am just babbling. In one of those moods. Ever have a day when the rain and the dreary day just made you lazy and blah? :-) It's allowed, right...:-) Yoopers can have lazy days too. It's a damn good thing I'm not one of them then huh? LOL Family Video in Negaunee, Pizza Hut in Ish - they have been getting our business this weekend. Oh well. New job tomorrow. I am excited that I get to work in Marquette, RIGHT next to the lake :-) Which will make my summers beautiful and my winters fucking frigid....ahhhh...here's to Ish. xoxox Here's to lazy Sunday's S

Yooper Time

One of the things I have noticed up here is that life up here is on a different time table. I am not talking about the one hour time difference that messes people up if you travel back and forth between time zones, if you work in another time zone or just visit. It still messes me up. Having to leave here at 5 pm to get down to where I have to go by 5 pm can be confusing. :-) That isn't what I mean though. I am talking about the days up here. Life starts a little later. The days are a little longer. There is not a mad rush hour for folks to get to work by 6 am. A lot of jobs up here don't start until 8-9 or even 10 am. The days last a little longer too, especially in the summer. Just ask my neighbor who mows his lawn at 10 pm. It was still light out. Nevermind that I was in bed already with a headache, but he finally had the time to mow his lawn. Really? -_- I get it. I know it gets done when they have the time and if the time is, well, the last 15 minutes of daylight....then so be it. I can't bitch too much. My other half doesn't get home from work until after 8 pm most nights and we don't get to bed until 11, after everyone had eaten dinner. Lol. It seems crazy but it's true. Life is a little slower up here, people get up a little later, and the days last a little longer.

A Healing Lake

I went out to Marquette today, ran errands with Tony and dropped him back off at work. I decided, since the weather was just gorgeous out, to go peek at the lake and see if I could get some writing done. I skipped Rip Tide Rock today and went straight to Presque Isle Park. I parked there for a minute but there were way too many people so I headed to Black Rocks. It was just breathtaking. There was one other car in the parking lot. Good. The lake was very very blue today. Tony's eyes get this color of blue some days. The sky is clear. You can see so far out today. Not quite to Canada like some tourists think you can, but far. I have never seen the lake so clear as it was today. I could see bottom as far as my eyes would let me. I walked down to a tiny piece of beach in between the jagged rocks. The rocks down here are so colorful, so beautiful. My toes, clad in sandals of course, immediately found the water. LOL Yes it was cold. But that did not stop my feet from enjoying the frigid waters - covering them, up to the bottom of my jeans. I didn't care and my feet, while frozen in temperature and in time...they couldn't move. I was amazed...amazed doesn't really seem to even begin to describe it. I was over joyed, excited, humbled, by how clear the water was. I wonder how it tasted. I squatted down at the waters edge, both feet submersed, one hand full of beautiful stones and I reached down with the other hand and cupped a handful of water and brought it to my lips and drank. It was freezing cold, it was silk going down my throat, it was crystal clear. My mind ran off to some science fiction fantasy realm imagining a lake, a water that could heal. I doubt if you put a little of Lake Superior on your cuts, bruises or sprains that it would heal you. But I do know that it heals your soul. I am living proof of that. And I know others that are as well. As I sit on Black Rocks all alone (I have never been here alone before, there were two tourists here taking hundreds of pictures when I arrived, we passed as they were leaving, exchanged hellos and comments on the beautiful weather, but then it was just me and the lake) with no sunscreen on, it was almost overwhelming. The sheer size of this lake and her beauty. I could come out here every day and write. The only sound besides me typing on my phone is the lake. Gently rippling, gently slapping the rocks as she comes to say hello. Once in a while you hear the birds but even the birds are quiet today. It is like time stood still today. When you are alone. I found a couple of neat little pieces of driftwood I took home. All over Black Rocks, there are little pools of water, from the lake or from the rain. They are very very warm. Warmer than bathwater. I cannot wait until this summer. I just may have to jump in. I can't describe to you really how this lake make you feel or the magnificence of it all. You have to see it for yourself. If you ever get the chance. I am putting a list up on the right over here ======>>>>>>> with facts about Lake Superior. Not my facts. I found them online at the Minnesota Sea Grant website. Hopefully they are accurate, I have found some different facts on different sites. Enjoy - Toes in the water - even if they are freezing. xoxox Sarah

Thoughts on my mind this morning....

I was laying in bed this morning, wide awake. Thinking. Thinking that it will be one year next week that Tony added me on Facebook. A YEAR. And now look. I am living in Ishpeming, Michigan among the Yoopers. Would I change anything? God no. We are not like an old married couple, not yet. Lol. But we are very comfortable with each other, we are very happy, very in love, and doing great. We kiss every morning and every night and lots in between. I don't tell him I love him enough. I don't think it can ever be enough. One day that special person will be gone. I don't know what I did to deserve someone like him. I don't know what I did to deserve to live in a beautiful place like this. Whatever it was, I am glad someone took notice. So I wanted to share that it has been a year that he came back into my life. A whole year. Since then I have quit my job, lived in two houses in Green Bay and now live up in the U.P. Who ever would have thought? It is times like these I am grateful for everything I have, even if it isn't much in material things, I am one of the richest people I know. I have him in my life, I have my kids, and his, who I treat like my own. I have a heart full of love. I have awesome people in my life and I live by one of the most beautiful lakes in the world. SO ya, my thoughts were of us, a year ago. My first contact with him after 24 years. My first drive up here. Our first hug. Our first kiss (that is another whole blog all together wow), my first weekend up here. And the progression and growth of our relationship. We have respect, we have trust, we give each other our own space, we act like kids, we dance, we goof around, we still go out on 'dates' out to eat or something, we have movie nights, we sit and just talk, we cry together. We live. See, it is possible for a Cheesehead and a Yooper to live together happily. He is my happily ever after. Ok, enough being sappy. I just had to share my thoughts. Not necessarily a Yooper post, but they were my thoughts and this is MY blog, lol. So I can share what I like. If you have someone close to you - your significant other, your spouse......that you haven't said I love you to lately....catch up on that. (Only if it's true please, lol. Don't ever say it if you don't mean it). Someday you will wish you had. Even a parent or child. :-) OK OK OK ENOUGH being sappy today!!! Time to get motivated today. Maybe. Until next time - S

A Yooper Prayer.....and stuff

I FOUND THIS IN A FRAME AT A YARD SALE FOR A QUARTER. HAD TO BUY IT. IT NOW SITS ON A SHELF IN OUR KITCHEN. A YOOPER PRAYER Lord, thank you for this beautiful peninsula, and the deserving people you have chosen to live here. Thank you for pasties, 4x4's, cable TV, snow blowers, and The Porkies. Lord, help me to accept your grace in January when my pipes are frozen, the car battery is dead, it snowed 20 inches last night, and the plow just went by. And please, help me to understand your love of Yoopers this July when everyone smells like bug dope, the sun hasn't been seen in weeks, and the furnace has kicked on every night. Lord, because we are your chosen people, you give us all that we deserve. Amen...Eh? Now this does not pertain to me, as I am NOT a Yooper, but it is great, isn't it? I thought so, and for 25 cents, you can't go wrong. Speaking of 25 cents - going to rummage sales I think is a thing up here. If you advertise and post it, people will flock. If you build it, they will come. So apparently I moved to the perfect place because I LOVE going to rummage sales and auctions. One person's junk is another mans treasure is such a cliché but it is so true. And I have a boyfriend who likes going to them as well! I have found some very good deals at yard sales. A few weeks ago, I found an $60 Cardhardt sweatshirt for a buck. Now brown clothes are like THE thing to wear up here. Don't worry about American Eagle or Ambercrombie, Hollister or Nike, Rock Star or anything else. If you have Cardhardt on, your brown clothes, you will fit in just about anywhere. When the Yoopers up here go out to eat, they wear their CLEAN brown clothes, the ones with no holes, no stains. Those are the Sunday best. It's true. I live with one. A new experience yesterday - I got to try a real Cudighi. Go back to the Food blog or Yooperisms if you don't remember what that is. So We went down Hwy 41 to Lawry's. A little tiny place that has pasties, cudighi and pizza. And a side counter/shelf with all things Yooper. I ordered a pizza Cudighi. We took them home, as we had rented some movies. They are HUGE sandwiches from this place. It was like a giant sub filled with meat and sauce and cheese. It was yummy. Not OMG I will eat one of these every day, because it is kind of spicy, and I don't care for spicy, but it was yummy. I could only eat half though. Tony's son graciously ate the rest. The sun is shining this morning up here in Ishpeming, not much of a breeze, it is actually a beautiful day out. A good day to be outside doing something or down by the lake enjoying it while we can. But I am guessing I will be inside most of the day, doing dishes or laundry or something I think just has to get gone. Enjoy your Sunday. If you are working hard today - like Spring cleaning or chores - take an hour or two out of your day to spend with your family or loved ones. Kids, significant others, spouses. Days together don't come very often. And you don't know when that someone or those someone's will be taken away from you. Enjoy it while you can. The laundry, the dishes, they can wait another day. No one will notice. Until something else pops in my head that I think I need to share...take it easy. If it's easy, take two but don't get greedy. Loving the sunshine - ~Sarah