Bell's Brewery and a walk on the beach

I was surprised and impressed by both the food and the beer at Bell's this weekend.  After heading up with my mom and sister for a day trip to visit my grandma and braving the cold weather to see the ice built up along the shore at South Haven, we stopped by Bell's Brewery to debrief and warm up our bodies and spirits.

I got a flight of 6 samples, many of which aren't sold outside of Kalamazoo.  Sarah got another 6 so we all had plenty of sips, tastes, and comments about our far-from-connoisseur impressions of each type.

From favorite to least favorite, I tried

1. Bull in a China Shop (blew the rest of the beers away)
2. Baltic Porter
3. Larry's Last Pale
4. Bell's Cider
5. Harvest Ale
6. Cherry Stout

3.14.14

Can't wait for next year!  (3.14.15)

Today's find: Global population

From an interesting article at
 http://distractify.com/geek/trivial-facts/12-astonishing-facts-that-will-warp-your-perception-of-timeforever/

Sick day

Today I took the whole day off work.  I started coming down with a cold Wednesday night, and after spending my three day weekend in bed, this morning I was still feeling under the weather.  

Probably could have made it in, but to avoid infecting all of my coworkers and sounding like much less than the image of wellness while health coaching, I decided to call in for an extra day of rest.

It's currently 9:43 pm and I've been awake for a grand total for 4 hours so far today.  It's been a luxurious, thoroughly unproductive set of four days.

Other than the being sick part, sick days are a dream come true.  Not only have I nearly made it through the first two seasons of Parks and Rec (which, until this cold, I regret to admit I had never watched), but sick days involve many of my favorite things, including, but certainly not limited to

• My bed
• Tea
• Hippy home remedies
• Being quiet
• Napping at weird times
• Doing whatever I want
• Being warm
• Making soup
• Eating soup
• Looking out the window
• Wondering about many things while looking out the window
• Drinking more tea
• Napping more

To clarify point number three, this time through I've been revisiting some old self-care experiments from the past and adding in some experimenting with Bragg's Apple Cider Vinegar.  A few of said "hippy home remedies" that I've been playing with over the past few days (most of which are not new to me) are miso soup, echinacea supplements, oil pulling with coconut oil, neti pot, ginger, sipping on apple cider vinegar with raw honey, zinc spray, and, of course, vitamin C.

If only I could justify another one tomorrow! (Or choose to spend a day doing sick day activities without actually being sick...)

Today.

Day after Valentine's Day: German food, German beer, and my first time downhill skiing

Of love

This just arrived in the mail wrapped in another piece of paper that said "When I read this I thought you had written it."  L, Ann.

I feel so understood.

So in anticipation of the upcoming holiday of love....

Of Love

I have been in love more times than one, thank the Lord.  Sometimes it was lasting whether active or not.  Sometimes it was all but ephemeral, maybe only an afternoon, but not less real for that.  They stay in my mind, these bueautiful people, or anyway people beautiful to me, of which there are so many.  You, and you, and you, whom I had the fortune to meet or maybe missed.  Love, love, love, it was the core of my life, from which, of course, comes the word for the heart.  And, oh, have I mentioned that some of them were men and omse were women and some -- now carry my revelation with you -- were trees. Or places.  or music flying above the names of their makers.  Or clouds, or the sun which was the first, and the best, the most loyal for certain, who looked so faithfully into my eyes, every morning.  So I imagine such love of the world -- its fervency, its shining, its innocence and hunger to give of itself -- I imagine this is how it began.

by Mary Oliver 2008