LIFE: That Time a Brit Went to the Supercross

Saturday saw the Monster Energy Supercross come to Detroit which some of Joe's family came to see (and brought us tickets) to tag along and watch at Ford Field. Personally,  while I'm a country girl, the only time I can stand dirt under my nails is when I'm working in the garden. Country sports, like anything involving motorbikes is not really my thing, but I tagged along, and anytime I can try and squeeze a blog post about something oh so American, then why the hell not share my random British thoughts.

Random thoughts like - why do they play the American national anthem at every sports event?! (not something we really do, or would probably care to do in the UK). Why do they then try and turn said anthem into a pop song?! Why is everyone at this event, so very white?! I came to the conclusion early enough into it that I'm not really hillbilly, countryside enough for such things. I'm happy to wallow in suburban excess, happily. 

But anyway, AMA Supercross is an American motorcycle racing held between January and May in various venues (typically baseball and football stadiums). Founded in 1974, Supercross is an offshoot of Motocross - the difference being Supercross uses off road bikes on man made tracks with jumps, obstacles and tight turns (Motocross using natural terrains on closed courses). When the championship hits Detroit, it finds it's home at the Lion's Ford Field and becomes one of the few venues were the track layout runs into the stands. Various pre-races make up the afternoon and main event - various sizes of bike engine, even a kids race. You have the Monster Energy ladies with hardy anything on waving heat and time signs around and races that last up to 20 laps. 

I guess it was a different way to spend a Saturday night. I did get to cheer on a Brit in one race who was propping up the back, sigh. It was fun being inside Ford Field for the first time. Getting another sports team plastic cup to add to my every growing collection (alongside my Sparty and Harlem Globetrotter ones). Indoor fireworks and fireballs are always fun. Constantly coughing because of the smell of petrol/gas, feeling very small and anxious as 46k plus people are leaving, overpriced downtown Detroit parking spaces, not so much. 

While I'm coming more to grips and understanding American sports. I think I would have preferred watching the Lions getting their ass handed to them, or anything March Madness related. Guess I've left my countryside ways long ago.

How about you? A fan of Supercross?

Rachael

LIFE: Small Things #10

The lighter evenings are starting to appear and oh my, do they make me wish and long for spring even more. To be able to push open the windows, see daffodils starting to drop their brightly colored heads in the breeze and awaking to morning birdsong. Michigan winters make those days feel so far away. Granted our winter this year hasn't been as cold, or as snowy, but there's only so many days in the minus numbers I can handle although it's always the perfect excuse to curl up on the sofa with the TV remote and a good book. 

In other news various happy things, and somewhat a sneak peek of things I'll eventually get around to sharing here on the blog;

• Lovely five day long weekend extending into Presidents Day with the OH although it always does result in me being confused about the day of the week afterwards. Right now I have no idea if it's Wednesday or Friday ... when it's actually Thursday.
• Gorgeous afternoon tea at the Mad Hatter Bistro and Tearoom in Birmingham (review to come).
• The last week or so has actually been all about tea - afternoon tea, buying some fancy spiced cinnamon tea, Persian tea. All the tea.
• Seeing Deadpool early Friday morning. The humor was right up my street and it was a brilliant adaption of the comic book. Villains were a little on the weak side but I'll get over that. Also probably features the best Stan Lee cameo. 
• Also public service announcement - stay to the end of Deadpool, because you know, extra scenes and all. I'll never understand people leaving early ...
• Speaking of spring I may have spotted some bulbs poking up in the back garden - I also may be really wrong and they are just weeds. Or now dead because of the chilly week we just had. 
• Rushing out to buy a load of wings from Detroit Wing Co., after hearing your favorite radio hosts (Valenti & Foster on 97.1 The Ticket - yes oddly enough my favorite radio hosts are on a sports talk station - what is happening to me?!) talking about chicken wings for four hours.  Four flipping hours, who couldn't say no to wings after four sodding hours?!
• Mexican hot chocolate treat for our adulting ongoing DIY adventures from Cafe Con Leche.
• Waving at my favorite Detroit building while drinking that Mexican hot chocolate - the Fisher Building. Gorgeous.  
• Stitching a little wild flower seed packet design for a forthcoming birthday card.
• Reading two awesome books - The Boston Girl and The Turner House - both I'd highly recommend. 
• I'll probably say the same about Judy Blume's In The Unlikely Event which I've just started reading. 70 odd pages in and very intriguing. 
• Oh and lots of graphic novels but I'll get to that in my monthly graphic novels review dump don't you fear. (*whispers*) it features - Through The Woods, Lumberjanes and Sisters.
• Finally getting all that stubborn old bathroom floor tile up, hammered out some concrete and replaced some floorboards. Getting overwhelmed with all this adulting points atm. We even hired a nail gun and didn't kill ourselves in the process of using it.
• Paczki Day! Joe sneaked out early on Fat Tuesday/Shove Tuesday to grab some paczki's from Dutch Girl Donuts. Delicious! What's a paczki you ask?! Well I talked about them a couple of years ago.
• Signing up for Daily Burn (a fitness workout over the internet, TV whatever you got - if you have Hulu you'll probably know their annoying adverts about leg day) and actually using it somewhat regularly. 

That's probably the most bullet points of happiness I may have ever achieved on my small things posts. Does help I'm bullet pointing three things daily that made me happy in that mission to work and overcome my stress issues. Ah well happy days indeed. 

How are things with you?

Rachael

LIFE: Photo An Hour - January 2016

Saturday rolled around with no particular plans in mind. January is always a slow and cold month for estate sales, so we're rather hit and miss about them. But still, I'd be looking forward to joining in with the first Photo an Hour link up of 2016 with a plan of just seeing what fell into place.

With no aforementioned plans, the morning started with a cup of coffee and finishing of a page in my Vive Le Color Japan coloring book - a particular favorite recent purchase of mine. An hour later by the time 10 am rolled around, I was adding in some more of the black background to my stitched bookmark I've been working on.

With some not every water tight plans in the making, we decided once 11 am rolled around to have lunch early (a cheese toastie for me, a toasted sarnie for him) and a pile of tomatoes on the side. Noon actually saw us picking up Joe's first ever pair of glasses and an hour later we were back on the road traveling to Ikea, that magical place. 

It's probably a good thing we don't live on the same side of the metro region that Ikea reside, because I'd probably be in there every other week. We planned to pick up some odds and ends and get an idea about some new cabinets for Joe's Transformer collection. Ended up buying a load of shelving for my office come craft room. 4pm marked a stop on the way back home to my favorite fish n chip - Scotty Simpson's in Brightmoor. This place happens to be the best fish n chip shop I've come across since moving to 'merica (see previous review here) nothing beats their fish n chips, even if the chips are on the skinny side. They also make the most delicious pies. Most people will probably avoid the place because of the area, but I love it there.

5pm and back home saw me working on the jigsaw puzzle that is was putting together two lamps from Ikea, like seriously, is there nothing that can be just put together in two steps from that place?! All that yummy food though and being lazed out for the day left me on the sofa catching up with the internets happenings and watching Invader Zim, as you do.

Trying out the Darth Vader comic book series while catching up on some episodes of Ghost in the Shell before popping into a very relaxing bath by 8pm with some whiskey on the rocks and a rather fizzy bath bomb. The rest of the evening was back on the sofa, curled up in pjs catching up on the Abominable Bride episode of Sherlock Holmes, with even more whiskey.

How was your weekend?!

Rachael

SNAPSHOTS: The Detroit Industry Murals

Some of the most awe-inspiring pieces of artwork you'll ever see can be found within the Detroit Institute of the Arts (DIA). Walking through the gallery you'll step inside a glass ceiling atrium - Rivera Court and be surrounded by four walls displaying 27 panels capturing Diego Rivera's Detroit Industry Murals.  These murals completed between 1932 - 1933, are considered to be one of Rivera's most successful works and one of the best examples of Mexican mural art in the US. You might of heard of Rivera's wife too - the infamous Frida Kahlo.

Detroit Industry Mural captures the 1930's daily life of the Ford Motor Company downriver plant, River Rogue. The north and south walls show the plant workers, whereas the east and west walls which are inter-spaced by arches and doorways show the journey of life. But also of the manger overseeing everything alongside a worker. Both are given equal stature and status.

The equality Rivera prescribed to worker and manager reflects his Marxist ideals. He was an artist who believed art belonged both on and in public space rather then hidden away in private galleries. But it wasn't only his Marxist beliefs that caused controversy when this piece was revealed - people were shocked at the depiction of workers of all races working alongside one another to the nudes which were named pornographic rather then artistic, some even called it blasphemous.

I'm not sure the photographs capture just how huge and how incredible these murals are they are certainly worth spending time sitting and taking everything all in. It's even more incredible when you take note that it took Diego only 11 months to complete. NPR have a great little article and video showing Diego actually painting the mural, and of course you can see more full images of the work on the DIA website.



This is one of those pieces, one of those things in life that will sure make you feel small.

LIFE: Grab a Cuppa Tea, Lets Have a Catch Up

So before I jump into the deep end of back to somewhat normal blogging, I thought we'd just have an easy chit-chat about everything that happened since the last time I properly shared a post back at the start of December. Truth be told, nothing much, but enough to ramble on about for a short while so here goes.

Christmas was quiet which is just how we like it. We hacked the ham to pieces to fit it into the slow cooker (and used this yummy recipe) and had enough leftovers to feed a small army. In fact I still think there's some bourbon vanilla cranberry sauce kicking around in the far flung corners of the fridge. I did manage to sneak a quick pep at Detroit's Christmas tree down in Campus Martius, one day I'll wrap up enough to get up close and person with it. Although I didn't manage to grab a photograph of the tree this year, Detroit was looking all sparkly and festive.

Speaking of Christmas, the last stitching finish of 2015 - and the last piece of stitching I've done was a pretty "Have Yourself a Merry Christmas" from the 2013 (I think ...) edition of Cross Stitcher Magazine. I'm actually on a self imposed ban when it comes to cross stitching until I get my new glasses which is kinda hard.



So no stitching has led to lots of reading and lots of coloring in - mainly because they don't cause too much eye strain at least. In fact most of Christmas Day was spent coloring in. It's true what they say about coloring in being a great stress reliever, it's certainly helping me a lot. And when I haven't been coloring in, I've been reading - working my way through an endless library of Marvel comics and some great graphic novels I've come across or received for Christmas gifts.

I'm thinking of talking more about books on the old blog, particularly graphic novels, but honorable mentions for great reads since my last Small Things post go out to;  The Shocking Story of Helmuth Schmidt by Tobin GT. Buhk, Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell, El Deafo by Cece Bell, Furiously Happy by Jenny Lawson, The Marvels by Brian Selznick, Smile by Raina Telgemeier, Saga v1 & 2 (that's all my library has at the moment boo) by Brian K. Vaughan.

Yeah I've read a few very good books lately - if you have any book recommendations leave them in the comments!



We became sustaining Michigan Radio members during the winter pledge week. To give a bit of background for non American's National Public Radio (NPR) stations predominately run on listener donations. Plus here it's so it's hard to find news sources in America that tend to not have political bias, and Michigan Radio does the job for me. So we became members, set up our monthly donations (which I urge you to support your own local NPR stations) and ended up with a huge bistro mug that holds enough coffee to bathe in.



December also saw us eating out at some new places to me at least (Social House - West Bloomfield and The Library in Novi) and a return to my favorite burger joint, well one of my favorite places in all of Detroit - the Mercury Bar down in Corktown. Because December seems to be all about eating and then eating some more. I also had a great cup of Mexican hot chocolate from Cafe Con Leche for a Christmas Eve treat down in Mexicantown, damn that stuff was tasty!

So that was my December for the most part. January is kicking itself off in it's chilly Michigan way and I'm excited to get back into blogging. 

Rachael

LIFE: Eight Photos Of Happiness

Sometimes you see a tag post come across your blog reading and you actually think, wow that isn't half bad. Then you tag yourself and away you go. Which is what I actually did when I spied Kerri's version of eight photographs of happiness. 

It's one of those nice tags where there's no silly pointless questions, it's not got that feeling of being done to death and you can just ramble to your hearts content. 

I'm easily pleased like that. 

So here goes, eight things that not only bring me happiness but are pretty important things in my life.

 

Cross Stitching

Not only is it my oldest hobby - I've been cross stitching since I was about five, but it's the one thing that's sure to take my mind off of things. So having stitched on and off for 24 years, it's a big part of who I am. It was actually something I was bullied for being able to do growing up so I abandoned it for a good couple of years, but i'm having a second wind these days. It's relaxing, I love creating, I love still how it all comes together. Plus now I've taken a hand to designing some pieces too, the fun just keeps adding up.

Cats

Picking out my first kitty Bertie is one of my earliest memories. Being an only child I guess Bertie became my closest companion growing up. I'm a self titled cat lady and share our house with Ed (pictured) and Smokey, I love hearing their purrs, getting kitty snuggles, having them walk all over me even if I'm trying to stitch ... 

 

Fall Colours

One of the best best reasons (aside from being with the love of my life after all) is being in a state that offers some of the most incredible fall colours once September rolls around. There is nothing like those burnt reds, crisp oranges and vivid yellows. It takes your breath away .... (although having to rake up all said leaves is another matter). 

Being Mr & Mrs

Joe, well he's my best friend. I'm not sure how I came to deserving him but I'm so glad he's decided to spend the rest of his life with me. But our life together is the one thing I don't really share on my blog and I like it that way :)

Detroit

I sound like a broken record, but most people write Detroit off, even locals. Which annoys me to no end. But I love having the motor city on my doorstep, I love exploring it's areas, it's food culture and getting around to sharing them here on the blog. My fault is that I can get a little bitchy about it - like if you say you're going to get murdered, mugged, attacked, hijacked just because you went three meters south of 8 mile you'll feel my wrath. #SorryNotSorry 

Trains

My geeky love is certainly for trains - big trains, train tracks, incline trains (as above with the Monogahela Incline in Pittsburgh)  model trains. I love them all. In fact for my 21st birthday, aside from all the partying at university, my big highlight was taking another ride on the North Yorkshire Moors Railway.

Travel

More often an not I love exploring what's on my doorstep. Growing up with staycations far before it was cool, I'm a fan of keeping my nose to the ground which the how and the where's about things to do. When time and money allows, I love getting to explore new places. Finding those fun local places off of the beaten track. 

Zoo Trips

One of the favorite things in my purse is my zoo membership card. I love being able to pop in as and when. Plus it helps having those discounts to reciprocal zoo's around the country - especially the Cincinnati Zoo which is my favorite I will be honest. Moreover the Detroit Zoo is often considered one of the greenest zoo's and it's making great strides in helping endangered creatures, building new exhibits and spreading the world about being green.


While I managed to pick of eight, I probably could have featured about 80 more (including say reading, Pittsburgh, photography itself, gardening, butterflies ... the list is endless). But I'm sure they give you a general impression!

What would be in your eight photographs of happiness?!

LIFE: Birthday Love From Detroit

Mid week birthday's give you the perfect excuse to drag celebrations out across two weekends. Fun weekends sandwiching your birthday from either end. While I'm not a big birthday celebrator, I'd rather not have all that attention, I don't mind using it as an excuse for some yummy food, exploring a couple of new places on our endlessly long Detroit visit list and spending some time with family who visited from Pittsburgh. From a mighty tasty blackened catfish sandwich followed by a huge bowl of the best mac n cheese Detroit has to offer in Slows BBQ, washed down with some handcrafted cocktails next door in The Sugar House. Capturing a sunset over the Motor City with our stomachs full and happy. A Sunday morning starting off with brunch at Toast down the road in Ferndale (review to follow) and a very delicious strawberry waffle and my new favorite place for breakfast. 

But that is just me. 

Happy memories, exploring a great city (yes really) and eating some great food.

CREATIVE: The Detroit Skyline

The idea of stitching a Detroit cityscape is one that's been kicking around on my to stitch list for longer than I care to recall. City scenes I guess are one of the "in" things when it comes to popular stitching of late - you might even remember my London stitching. But one one seems to have come up with a Detroit one (surprise surprise). But hey I like a challenge and designing one myself, well it became a lot more personal and in honesty, I probably enjoyed stitching it all the more. 

With Detroit having an international riverfront, it has a natural edge for it's city limit and place to start the stitching from. Sadly the only way to actually see this scene in real life, is to view it from across the Detroit River while standing on Canadian soil in our southern neighbours of Windsor. Luckily there is always google to doodle from. Lots and lots of doodling.

The Ren Cen stands proudly in the middle, bordered on one side by it's smaller buildings and carparks (we have a lot of those in Detroit) and to the west, a juxtaposition of the old (Fisher) and new buildings that make up downtown Detroit (Cobo, One Woodward etc).

And compared to the real thing, it doesn't look half bad ...

Downtown Detroit (source)

Made up of varying numbers of black thread, the design is a simple composition of back stitching and the odd grouping of cross stitches for shadows and depth. Jazzing up an old frame I grabbed for cheap at an estate sale and the picture hangs proudly on my living room wall.

There's a couple of reasons why I really enjoyed stitching this piece - working on something of my own from scratch certainly makes yourself proud of your work, but getting back into drawing, creating something again takes cross stitching to a whole new level.

LIFE: Small Things

The death of my netbook while upgrading itself to Windows 10 (it decided to do said upgrade just as they released an update that messed up and makes it just constantly start rebooting) perhaps casts a shadow of this weeks small things, it's certainly put blogging on the back burner a little. But hey, it's letting me crack on with the gardening and crafting. 

But on the up side;

• Checking out more tasty eating places down in Hamtramck - this time Aladdin Sweets & Cafe - the cities first Bangladesh restaurant. 
• Dutch Girl Donuts - enough said.
• Picking the last of the cilantro seeds, one of my kitchen is full to bust with row after row of paper bags of seeds drying out.
• Planting out the first of the fall crops - lots of little broccoli seedlings.
• Getting a new (to me bike) and feeling like a big kid biking around the block.
• Designing and stitching two of my own cross stitch pieces - a Detroit cityscape (more on this to come) and a gift for some friends buying their first house. Really loving designing my own charts, it's taking cross stitching to a fun new level for me.
• Speaking of crafting, for the first time in months, picking up a crochet hook and starting a Christmas tree skirt. Fingers crossed it'll be completed in time for Christmas 2015, it's not stitching up quickly.
• After a whole lotta waiting, lack of communication and even more waiting, our hand selected by Anthrax bottle of Knob Creek finally turned up. Mighty tasty too. 

How's things with you?