a week away from it all

Our little vacation has come and gone and tomorrow we both go back to work. Having nine days off together was amazing - I feel so relaxed, removed from the hustle and bustle of the last few months and so enjoyed just being with rick. Although I am loving this crazy busy time of our lives, I can't wait for the day when we are settled into the careers we're working towards now and hoping that time will start to move a little bit slower.

I didn't want to over-post photos from our trip, but here's a few mini-collages :)

We definitely had our share of Starbucks on this trip - dark chocolate, cherry mocha frapp is my new BFF! And I have to mention Wild Wing Cafe...Where we stayed was right near Michigan State's campus and this little wing joint was so yummy, insanely hot (temperature of the wings) and the drinks were delishhh and so cheap. Mix all of that with some live music, Cavs game in the background and the love of your life sitting next to you - this was a great night!

Okay, by far our favorite animals here were:

1) The Otter: This thing was crazy. I loved it! He literally would swim a huge circle around the pond, run out, run a circle around the land and then come back to do a crazy twisty dive back into the pond...Rinse & Repeat, over and over and over.

2) The Lion: Well at first, the lion looked hecka boring. He was sleeping on this big rock in the sun...nothing cool at all. We were about to walk away when, BAM, he started roaring. If you have never heard a lion roar in person, you are seriously missing out. The bass in that thing's lungs was insane. It literally shook the ground. It was pretty amazing.

3) The Meerkats: These little guys are just adorable to begin with, but they were oober adorable this day. All of these huge birds and peacocks kind of just roamed free around the zoo and the meerkats and peacocks had quite the stand off, it was comical to say the least.

These are just a few randoms...we ate at Cracker Barrel one morning and got some Dubble Bubble to keep us busy. But this Dubble Bubble was serious! It was the toughest gum ever and we had some bets on not being able to blow a bubble...but sure enough, rick succeeded!

This first photo is a quick shot of the Somerset Mall near Detroit which is a shopper's paradise. From Anthropologie to Nordstroms, Saks Fifth, Louis Vuitton....It was a madhouse. I ended up leaving with only a headband from Nordstroms and Rick got a pretty fun polo from Puma :)

Sad faces for saying goodbye to our amazing vacation and amazing hotel. For anyone traveling to or around Detroit, I highly recommend staying in the Greektown Casino Hotel - it was absolutely gorgeous! ... and I doubled my money at the casino, so yay for that!