girls' day out

the girls (squinty-eyed, I should have busted out my shades)

I do have the world's best mother in law. Sorry. She's taken! Every year Ryan's mom takes his sis, Rochelle and I on a little day trip. I think this year may have been my favorite thus far. We met last Friday at 9:30 and headed to downtown Rockford, a little gem of a town about 15 miles north of Grand Rapids. Again, my state pride continues to rise this time of year, there are so many great places in Michigan that I don't even know much about!

We spent our morning wandering in and out of boutiques and crafty stores, along with a resale shop where I eyed a pair of Gap jeans and just knew they would be perfect. So for $23, they were mine! When does that ever happen with jeans? The 3 of us tend to get a little goofy together and there was a lot of laughter packed into the day including the time when I spilled on myself over our lunch at Arnie's and asked what a bib for adult would be called. Rochelle's response: "an apron". oh. haha. that one really got us. We spent the rest of the afternoon wandering again and capped it off with frappes from McDonalds....ahh
so nice to stop and smell the roses sometimes:

loving where you live

I think my pulse just picked up a little as I started writing. I always get excited/nervous to pick a winner for anything, even when I use a random method.

And I want to say before I do so that I LOVED reading about places people love and think that the list is worthwhile keeping for summer days and trips to new towns. Here were some common themes:
farmer's markets, little corner shops, places to find great gifts, wineries, corner pubs, early bird specials...the list goes on here

But more than that, almost everyone defined their favorite places with emotions and conversations and connection. Just proves that the places we love are even better with good friends and the memories that they signify. Thank you for sharing those places with ME and in turn giving me a little snapshot into your memories.

And now, before I continue to get sappy....here we go... a delicious bag of Good Life Granola is going to LUCKY NUMBER 7!

Candace said...
"Well you see i love zeeland(my home) and holland. So i would say bringing my son to zeeland bakery for a donut but also as a family we love to pick up our coffee at JPS as we walk down to the farmers market! Which i am so excited for and now i have something new to add to my list when i go!"