I had one of those days yesterday & was not in a good mood at all on my walk from work to meet Ryan in downtown Ann Arbor – when suddenly, I came across these two things on my walk & they really made my day…the first (The Lorax), I found at the corner of Liberty & S. Division on top of a tree stump (right next to Bar Louie) & the second was in a shop window a couple blocks down on Washington. It’s funny the things that can turn your day around; to whoever was kind enough to put these things along my path, thanks for making me smile!

We really enjoyed heading out to the Chelsea Fair last night! There were rides & junk food (it’s true, we couldn’t leave without having french fries, pretzels, & a watermelon slushee!), a demolition derby, & animals to pet & view.

The demolition derby was a lot of fun – all those cars & trucks smashing into each other & sliding around in the mud…it might sound odd, but it was very entertaining!

And on our way out, we stopped by the barns to see all the animals; I can’t help myself, I just love them & especially the baby ones of course…what is it about baby animals that makes my voice suddenly higher & the “awww…” come out of my mouth? I really loved the little, black lamb with the white spot on his head in the bottom of the picture above – too cute! 

Here’s more photos from the fair; Ryan took some great ones with our Canon that we’ll eventually get online too.

We had the best time attending the Sing-a-Long Wizard of Oz at the Michigan Theater this afternoon & I was sure to wear my red shoes, of course. They gave out gift bags with bubbles, kazoos, lollipops, etc. & the words were right there on the bottom of the screen so that everyone could join in…”We’re off to see the Wizard…”!

The Michigan Theater has a great summer classic film series that you should really check out – Ryan & I saw the Creature from the Black Lagoon in 3D there a couple summers ago & enjoyed that one too.

We had an amazing weekend, full of lots of fun times & wonderful friends. We celebrated our dear friend, Jen Seibert’s, birthday & had fun bowling on Friday night. Saturday we enjoyed lending a hand with a friend’s Eagle Scout project – building a fence at the historic Dewey School – & we loved the beautiful countryside & the charming schoolhouse; we then had a wonderful evening taking wedding photos of our friends Stephanie & Ken & enjoyed a delicious dinner at Terry B’s in Dexter. And today we had a blast at the Maker Faire, held at the Henry Ford Museum, where we got to see a lot of really cool stuff & picked up some great things to take home too. The weekend really flew by, but we enjoyed the ride!

Some photos I took at the Dewey School…

And here are some photos I took at the Maker Faire & photos that Ryan took at the Maker Faire.

I don’t know if I can listen to In the Summertime by Mungo Jerry & not smile. It seems like a fun, feel good, summer song to me & makes me think about how much I really do enjoy the summertime. For me, summer is about enjoying the long days, maybe finding yourself by the water or taking a walk along a beach, catching fireflies, having a picnic, relaxing, & just having as much fun as you possibly can…& I can definitely get on board with that!

Here are some photos we’ve taken this summer that, I think, give you a glimpse of just that…

I was reading the latest flickr blog post the other day about squared circles, or “squircles”, & thought it sounded like fun – so I decided to try it out for myself. I took all these photos with my iPhone, using the ShakeItPhoto app, on my walk to & during lunch today.

They even have a Flickr group dedicated to squircles & I found that it’s actually harder than you might think to capture a photograph (using only an iPhone & with no editing in my case) that is of equal height & width containing a circle & in which the circle fills as much of the frame as possible with its outside edge remaining visible, etc.; in fact, I don’t believe that my photos here would even qualify for this flickr group as they do have a border (because I used the ShakeItPhoto app). Oh well, it was fun anyhow!

We had a lovely weekend & were super excited to use our brand new, fancy pants, Canon 5D MarkII camera! We enjoyed a lovely dinner out with friends on Friday at Melange (&, bonus, it was Restaurant Week in Ann Arbor), took a trip out to Eastern Market in Detroit on Saturday & then watched the World Cup U.S. vs. Ghana game & ended the day with a nice cookout with friends.

Here are several more photos we took over the weekend with our fancy new camera – it’s so awesome!

Although this is a photo from the movie Grease (which I love, by the way!), this post has nothing to do with the delightful, 1978 film starring John Travolta & Olivia Newton-John – it has to do with the “Shake Shack”, sort of… There was an earthquake in Canada today & apparently the seismic waves were felt here in Ann Arbor, MI just before 2:00pm today; although, I have to say, I didn’t feel anything & I was sitting right in my office – I feel like I missed out on something.

I love fruit, just about any type, but I have to say that my favorite fruit is definitely the strawberry! I can’t get enough of strawberries. They’re so cute, red, sweet & tart at the same time, & they just make me happy. And, as it turns out, I live in Michigan where we have an amazing crop of fresh, locally grown strawberries (including the ones we grow in pots on our front patio) every summer. There were lots of strawberries available at the Ann Arbor Farmer’s Market last Saturday & I know we’ll be lucky enough to have them around & readily available for a while still.

I’m hoping to make a trip out to Spicer Orchards soon to pick my own basket of them to enjoy, before strawberry season is over. Yum!

This is our friend, Stephanie, kissing a beautiful, adoptable Pit Bull (I got a smooch at the “Kiss a Bull” booth too!) at our 5th Humane Society of Huron Valley (HSHV) Walk & Wag event at County Farm Park we attended yesterday as “Team Squirrel Lovers” – it was the 31st Annual Walk & Wag! Although it was a little drizzly early that morning, the rain stayed away for the most part & it turned out to be a beautiful day. As a team, we raised a total of $610 this year, which is our best ever & I’m proud to say that each year we participate in this event we raise more money for the HSHV.

Walk & Wag is such a fun event & full of fun activities – like the Kiss a Bull booth I mentioned above, Pet Massages, Vendor Booths, Bobbing for Weenies, Agility Course, etc. & it’s all for such a great cause! See more photos of our Walk & Wag adventures here.

Pictured above is Bella – our friends, Stephanie & Ken, adopted Bella from the HSHV right after our first Walk & Wag 5 years ago & Bella & Melody are best buds! Here’s to another successful & fun Walk & Wag & many more to come – Melody & Bella approve this message!