COSI DOUBLE TIME!!

A Three-Hour Tour…. A Three-Hour Tour…. Well more like a three-hour drive to Columbus but I was just trying to be witty with an ice opener to this blog. So a little history back when I was in the 8^th grade we went on this awesome field trip to a science Center in Ohio called COSI. I thought it was really close to the Michigan Ohio bored, well when I looked it up again this year it said that it was in Columbus which is about 3 hours away…not so close ……well jokes on me because about a week ago I found out that the COSI I went to as a Child is now called the Imagination Station and the COSI this Blog is about is a new Science Center…. oh well we still had tons o’ fun …so here it goes Happy Reading!!

So this trip took a little extra planning because it was so far away. Also we decided to purchase a yearly pass to the Detroit Science Center because included in that pass you get free admission to over 300 other Science centers throughout the Country including the one we were headed to COSI. The yearly pass we purchased was $25 and just for us to get into COSI it would have cost $15 each. Sot it was an amazing investment, since we used the same pass to get us Into the Detroit science center when we went to go see Dinosaurs alive, which you can read about in a previous blog.

We hoped in Kiki * My Car* and plugged in Nigel * he’s our GPS* and headed on our way. The drive down wasn’t as bad as I thought it was going to be we didn’t hit much traffic and thanks to Nigel we made great time. When we arrived at the Science center we decided to purchase tickets for one of the IMAX Shows that was playing, it was a show about the Sturgeon and the Great lakes and then we planned the rest of our day around that.

One of the Things I remember most about the Science center when I was little was a unicycle that you could ride across the museum on a tight rope. I kept telling Josh about this a couple days before the trip and he didn’t believe me. When I showed him some of the other people doing it when we got there he was like “ yea Im not doing that.” However that was the first thing I brought him up to do. I made him go first and video taped the whole thing!!! I went second and It was just as much fun as I remember when I was little.

There are so many exhibits to see at this museum its unreal. My favorite by far was the oceans exhibit. It was so beautiful. They had different experiments you can do with water and it explains how ocean tides work and there was water everywhere. There was this giant display of Poseidon and all these fish around him it was really pretty.

We got to witness a game of Rat basketball, my rat won of course, what could I say he was the best rat!! There was a space exhibit when you could walk through a black hole, and see what it would feel like to take off in a rocket ship.

Josh really enjoyed the traveling exhibit they had which was all about Geckos. He kept asking if the Geiko Gecko was going to be there and we actually found him so that made him pretty happy. The last thing we did was go and watch the IMAX movie. It was really interesting and it was all about the Great lakes, which gave me an idea for another adventure if we could make it up north sometime this year. Since we went on a Sunday they close a little earlier than normal, so we had to go and make some SQUASHED PENNIES!!!! And hit the gift shop real quick where I bought an dinosaur that you hatch from and egg…(we did this about a week later and he was really cool it really hatches and grows!!)  Then we were on our way home!!

Well we thought we were on our way home, but we decided that we were both really hungry so we pulled our Nigel and asked him for some local restaurants and we found a restaurant a few miles away called. COSI…we thought this was really cool and decided to go with the COSI theme of the day and try it out. It ended up to be like this funky kind of café restaurant that served soup and sandwiches and the best part is that they had a smores tray that you could get and make you own smores right at your tables it was really nifty!!  So after our COSI double day we hoped back in KIKI and we were off!!!

            The Science center was an amazing find, it’s about triple the size of the Detroit Science center and most of the Exhibits works were as at the DSC a lot of the exhibits have broken parts. It’s a lot newer and they have more family orientated activities. The only draw back is that is the distance. I think that is it something I would do once a year but no more than that just because of the drive. But if you could make a weekend out of it and maybe do the Columbus Zoo or some of the other attractions while your out there its defiantly worth checking out!!

Self Portrait

Adventure: Crossing off Item on Bucket list : Self Portrait

Place: Hudson Mills Metro Park

People: Shannon

Cost: 5$ for brushes

Well the adventures have slowed down a little bit since the cash flow isn’t as large as it used to be with one of my roommates moving out. But however this weekend I was able to accomplish one of the things on my bucket list!! It was a small one but still It was an item that I could cross off.

            I painted my self-portrait, I plan on doing one a year but the bucket list item was just one in general. I had mot of the materials to do some since I was mostly in art classes my senior year. I had a ton of paints and the only thing I couldn’t find which im sure are packed away in a box some where were my brushes. A short trip to Joann’s and thanks to the nice lady behind me who gave me one of her extra coupons I bought a set of 25 various brushes. I packed Kiki * that’s my cars name* and headed to a park that I know and the Huron river runs through it and there is just this amazingly breath taking view of the rocks and the river and how could someone not be inspired to paint or draw something sitting there.

            I started painting letting the brush do its work and then I do what I always do as I paint and I over think it and just start trying to make it something that its not and I ended up messing up in a few spots and well lets just say that it’s a good thing it started to rain and I will call that an intervention from the art gods that told me to stop and that my painting was done because I always do to much.

             All in all I am happy with the way my painting turned out and it is now hanging up in my office above my desk. Others my not like it but I love it and I think it is a great representation of me and how I view myself at this point in my life.

…drum roll please……….. Here I t is.

Bucket List

Ive had a bit of writes block and I just didnt like how the blogs have been looking about some of the latest adventures so I havent posted them but I thought I would post a blog about some of the things on my "bucket list" So heres what Ive got so far

- Bake Bread from Scratch
-Triathalon
-Do a Food Challenge
-Have a silly string Fight
-Send a secert to post secert
-Complete a quilt
-Flip a house
-Write a book review
-Get a degree for fun
-Hold a snake
-Jump in a pool/ ocean fully clothed
-Read 1,000 books
-Volunteer
-make homemade ice cream
-make my own coffee table book
-make a scrapbook
-go skinny dipping
-go polar plungeing
-go on a spontanous road trip
-GO kayaking
-Go white waterrafting
-Take a tour of a famous Brewery
-Learn to sew properly
- Learn to play the bagpipes
-Carve my name in a tree
- HOld a monkey
-Flatten coins on a train track
-Attend a lions game
-Get a book signed by its author
-Whale Watch
-Visit all 50 states
-Stomp Grapes with my feet
-Pan for gold
-Complete a 1,000 piece jigsaw puzzle bymyself
-Cook every dish in a cookbook
-Go to a wine tasting
-Go to a murder mystery Dinner
-Ride a Mechanical Bull
-Be an audience member of a tv show
-Ride a tandem Bicycle
- Wear  free hugs t-shirt for a day and see how many people hug me
-Spend Halloween in Salem , Ma
-365 photo Challenge
-Build-a-Bird House
- Ride in a hot a ballon
- Play a game PaintBall
- Trace my family tree
- Go ziplining
- Parasailing
- Go to the movies alone
- Learn to  shoot a gun
-Learn Reiki
-Learn how to Sail a boat
-Kite Surfing
-Horse back riding
-Participate in a flashmonb
- Visit the grand canyon
- Climb a Light house
- Watch the Ball drop on New Years Eve in NYC
-Swim with Dolphins
-Skydive
-Be an extra in a film or tv show
-Learn to juggle
-Send a message in a bottle
-Ride a camel
-Ride an Elephant
-Ride a segway
-Go to Disney
-Run a 5k
-Take a Train Ride
-Stand in 4 states @ once
-Learn to surf
-Walk across burning coals
-Volunteer Aboard
-Paint a self portrait
-Join the Mile high Club
-Brew my own beer
- go zorbing
- ride in a helicopter
- Milk a cow
-Pet a tiger
-Go rock climbing
- Swim in all the major oceans
- Get a tattoo
- Learn to ride a motorcycle
-Finish all the cake decorating classes
- Learn to snowboard
- Learn to fence
- See a sunrise and set in the same place


These are just what I could come up with on the fly I know there are more I will be addin....whats on your bucketlist?

Dirty Show

Adventure: The Dirty Show
Place: Detroit
People: Shannon, Joe
Cost: $$

Lets do the time warp…. ok this adventure was from a couple months back but I think it is blog worthy.

When you think of Valentines day what typically comes to mind heart shaped boxes of chocolate, Fluffy teddy bears, love, romance…. sex? Well that’s what Detroit thinks about, for the past couple years during the month of February there is an International Art Exhibit for the wild at heart called “ The Dirty Show”

            The exhibit features both Media art and performance art. I have heard about this exhibit from some of my more adventurous friends that have gone in years past and decided that this year it was time for me to go and check out what all the buzz was about.

The exhibit is held in a warehouse that features a stage and 2 bar areas.

 It was a little pricey to get in but people were lined up around the corner to get in regardless.

Now I am a very open minded person and I say to each there own as long as they are happy, and I was surprised at all the different “ types” of people that were in the crowd. I felt like one of the plain Jane types in just my jeans and t-shirt. But there were couples that looked like Mr.& Mrs. Jones from down the street, there were a few people I would be scared to run into in a dark alley and they there were the more open people who had 2 or 3 girls on their arm. The thing I really like about the atmosphere was it seemed as though everyone was relaxed and enjoying himself or herself no one really felt out of place. I mean you are in a room with about 400 strangers looking at exotic art your so uncomfortable that you just have to be comfortable with the situation.

Joe and I decided to take a look around at the local artists work first, and see the show how it was supposed to be seen. The show is mainly focused on local artist but anyone from around the world can submit art as long as they can get it to the show.

There were some things I found to be quite interesting and even enjoyable to look at; there were some works of art that I found to be a little to out there for my taste. It seemed like the masses agreed with me since 3 of the pieces I would have considered purchasing were already purchased and the 4^th piece that I feel in love with was 2,500 and well I didn’t have a coupon for it.

            In order for the work to be considered “Dirty” it doesn’t have to be pornographic, there were many pieces of art that didn’t resemble pornography at all. As a matter of fact that is one of the “Dirty Shows” bad reputations is that it is just a bunch of porn. Which I can tell you it is not, most of the pieces I felt were true works or art, some could be debatable but I think the event coordinators do an excellent job of selecting pieces that work well for the show.

As Joe and I sat and watch a performer during their act we heard this very loud sound. It was only on for a couple seconds then it stopped…then it started again then it stopped and we just had to go and see what it was.

As we walked into the second bar area we realized that there was someone who had the worlds largest vibrating something or other and was giving rides on it for a $1 donation to charity. I don’t recall the name but evidentially this piece of equipment is pretty famous. We stood and watched as a few brave souls ride this large vibrating canister as Joe and few other man folk standing around tried to convince me to ride as well. I respectfully declined…. numerous times…and were just going to leave that at that.

At the back of the warehouse there is a print gallery where some of the more famous Dirty Artist have smaller print pieces for sale at a more reasonable price than the large ones on the main floor. We looked around for an Artist that I have been searching forever since I had wandered into his booth at Arts, Beats and Eats about 6 years ago. Lo and behold he had prints for sale there, however they were still out of my price range.

(Dear Dirty show next year please provided me with a coupon.) One of the more lighthearted things was that there was a photographer who would take your photo standing next to a giant penis. I thought this would be hysterical and a fun memory, however Joe did not share my enthusiasm for getting such a picture taken.

            All in all the show was pretty much what I expected it to be, I still feel it was a little pricey for the size of the show. I also would have liked to see more performers, which I know that only certain performer perform on different days of the show. No T-shirts or Pennies from this Adventure…onto the next….

Zingermans Delicatessen

Place: Zingermans Deli

Locations : Detroit Street , Ann Arbor , MI
People : Josh, Shannon
Money: $$

            After a long Day of Adventure it is always recommended by the adventure experts to eat a delicious meal. Preferably at some place new, exciting and interesting. When you are in Ann Arbor there is defiantly no Lack of new and or interesting places to eat. Last week on our day full of adventures Josh and I choose Zingermans Delicatessen.

            I had heard about such a place from various locals, which when you are out adventuring or traveling one of my best tips is, Always ask the locals!! Travel magazines, book and brochures always tell you what they think you want to hear. When you in Italy do you want the real stuff or the American version? The real stuff…. right…well don’t ask the hotel clerk as someone that is a local to the area. They will know the off the beaten path locations were you will get true local cuisine. Also the Deli had been spot lighted on a few of my favorite foods shows. Which search out funky places to eat travel and explore.

            After fighting with George (my GPS) for a couple minutes trying to get him to show us the way we realized that we were right around the corner from said Deli. The hardest part was finding some place to park. The building is in the middle of the Historical part of Ann Arbor right at the mouth of a Neighborhood.

            As we walked in it was a little overwhelming but in a friendly way. There were workers screaming out to help people. One taking orders, one on the cheese side, one on the bread side and then a couple, food runners it was organized chaos to say the least. We walked up to one of the employees and explained that we had never been there before and he was extremely friendly and helpful he handed us a sandwich menu. He showed us where the different areas of the deli were and that we could sample anything we wanted. We looked over the menu for a good 10 minutes!! There are over 100 different sandwich choices.

            We placed our order with the employee yelling that he was taking orders there were so many other decisions we had to make that we were un-aware of such as which side we wanted, what type of pickle…. etc.etc. All good choices were made and then we went to pay. We paid for our sandwiches and headed outside we were told that our food would be brought out to us when it was ready. I went and grabbed a table while Josh grabbed drinks from the second Zingermans next door, which houses gourmet coffee, and Chocolates.

            As we waited outside for our food, we found out that during the late spring early summer the line to get a meal can be up to an hour long just to get into the deli and then another 45 minutes until you food is ready. Local patrons and travelers alike are willing to wait almost 2 hours for delicious Sandwiches. With that kind of loyalty you have to know the food is good.

            Everything is fresh and cut and sliced on premises they have a variety of there own gourmet vinegars oils, you name it they pretty much have it. The Deli has become so popular that were remodeling their main seating area to accommodate more seating for the up coming season.

            I have an order for “ Shannon” oh that me that me! I raised my hand and the food runner placed this huge sandwich In front of me and equally large sandwich in front of josh. What I really liked about the service is that they told you what everything was as they put it on the table for you. So that way they could tell right away if they were missing something. Time to eat, I took one bite and I was in Heaven! The sandwich was AMAZING!  I got a number 62, which is BBQ, chicken on a special roll with onions and just a bunch of goodness. It had a little bit a tang to it but not too much to make it unbearable for us normal folk. They paired it with the perfect bun and cheese. It was a truly amazing combination. Then when you ate a bite with the “old” style pickle it was truly one of the most amazing things I have ever ate.

            I didn’t want to stop eating it, the sandwich was huge though and I ordered the small size! Josh was equally pleased with his ordered as was everyone sitting around us. I wish I could have became a temporary friend of theirs and asked them for a bite because I just wanted to see what other amazing concoctions Zingermans had come up with.

            We finished out delicious meal and then cleaned up after ourselves and decided to check out there chocolate shop. If their sandwiches were that good I could only imagine how fantastic their chocolates could be. We picked out a few chocolates had them wrapped up. Purchased a t-shirt for our adventure quilt and with our bellies full and our mouths watering for the chocolates we had just purchased we were on our way home. I give Zingermans a triple start rating!! If you are ever in Ann Arbor I would suggest you stopping and sampling something at Zingermans Delicatessen.

Here Fishy Fishy Fishy

Adventure: Fly-Fishing

Place Proud Lake Wixom , MI

People: Joe and Shannon

Cost : $0 ( for the day but equipment was previously purchased)

OOOOOOOh I love the Fishes because they’re so fun to catch. …Gonna go fishing gonna go fishing!!!! That’s right ladies and gentlemen I love to go fishing. You might have thought that I was just all about museums, eating and things of that nature but you were wrong. I like to get down and dirty and go outdoors camp catch a fish or two go hiking, biking get my hands dirty. Since I haven’t done anything like that lately I thought it might be time and well about a week ago it was perfect weather for my first Fly-fishing experience. So I jumped in *Kiki * my kiwi colored escape* and I was on my way.

  Just a little back-story for everyone, this past Christmas I received my first set of fishing waders From Joe and I have been itching to use them ever since. For those of you that don’t know what waders are, they are like a set of cover alls for the water. They are the most UN attractive things you will ever see. They make you look like you put on about 60 pounds they are waterproof so you can go stand in the freezing cold river and fish for some cute little fishes up close and personal.

Alrighty on with the adventure story…we arrived at Proud lake at about 1 in the afternoon there were plenty of other Fishermen out already fishing the hot spot but I was Proud to be the only Fisherwoman out their. I put on all my gear tucked my socks into my pants and put my fly rod together. Made sure that I had my newly acquired fishing license…. Yes folks we must make sure we follow the rules.  Then we walked down to a little more private fishing area settled into our spot and then gulp it was time for me to head into the river.

IT WAS FREEZEING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  But being the wondrous adventurous trooper that I am I continued on full throttle into the river farther and farther make sure to remember the key points to fly-fishing in waders. 1) Always keep one foot on the ground 2) don’t ever walk backwards 3) don’t fall into the freezing river water. After Joe gave me quick lessons on fly-casting I was on my own.

There’s just something more to being in a river in the fishes nature habitat trying to catch them than just sitting in a boat trying to catch them. I feel as thoughts maybe were on a more even playing field? Maybe its because I can feel the current of the water against my legs, or hear the fish come up out of the water behind me. I could see the rocks underneath me and the water running over them, the sticks and other natural debris floating in the water I just felt at peace standing there in the extremely cold body numbing water. I am a catch and release fisher I only do it for the fun of it not for the eating purposes. However my first hour out I wasn’t having any luck catching so I couldn’t even release. Joe caught a couple fish but he didnt follow one of the rules of Fly-Fishing with Shannon Rule number 10) after you catch the fish before you release them give the fish a kiss and tell them its going to be okay before you put them back in the water........ he forgot the kiss part.

            I unfortunately didn’t catch anything my first time out, well except maybe a cold the verdict is still out on where it came from exactly.  But I didn’t learn that I Love the sport more than I thought. My next step is to learn to tie my own flies and convince Joe that fish wouldn’t be scared of a set of pink waders. We packed up all out stuff headed back to Kiki poured some hot chocolate, took off all our fishing gear and headed for home. This year will definitely be one of many fishing trips. I hope to do a fishing weekend where I can involve camping as well. I really enjoyed the Proud lake spot it was clean, easy to get to and not to far of a distance from my house. On to my next adventure!

Ann Arbor Hands On Museum

Place: Ann Arbor Hands On Museum
People: Josh, Shannon
Location: Ann Arbor , MI
Cost: $

Don’t touch that, put that down, your going to break that, be careful, you can look but don’t touch!!! All of these familiar sayings from our childhood that we have heard over and over again from our parents, Well these can all go out the window at the Ann Arbor HANDS ON Museum!

On an impromptu trip to the great grand and wondrous city of Ann Arbor the other day while when Josh and I were just about to finish up another adventure (see blog on Fairy Doors.) We were a little lost looking for our parking garage I had noticed these brightly colored signs for the Ann Arbor Hands On Museum. Being the coupon Savoy always looking for cheap and /or free things to do gal that I am! I remembered that when I signed up for the Detroit Science Center membership earlier in the year that I get 50% off admission to the AAHOM.

 I quickly grabbed Josh’s hand and whirled him across the street and into the Museum. He looked at me like as he often does puzzle and confused and said, “ Isn’t this place for like babies?” my reply to him was so?  I pulled out my membership card paid $4 and we headed in.

The first thing that caught my eye was the Block party exhibit; filled with toddlers and a few adults I jumped right in and started building a structure. The Block party is an Exhibit of about I would say oh 5,000 foam blocks of varying sizes that you can build whatever it is you heart desires, Im sure there was something you were actually suppose to do that was scientific with it but no one really seemed to care. I started to build a castle with the help of my new friends a 2 year old little boy who was hitting my with a foam block and a 6 year old little girl who actually wanted to help my build my castle.

When got one wall built and then I decided it was time to knock it down and she agreed, I let her do most of the knocking since well I can’t always do the childish things. After the block party we wondered around into the Big House exhibit which showed how everything in a house works, toilets, electricity, phones, how to build a house …etc. Etc I should have paid close attention since something new breaks in my house everyday but we were having fun no time for serious stuff today!

There were so many things to touch and explore and do and I truly felt a little over whelmed. The next exhibit was a health exhibit that had an ambulance and a gurney and all sorts of things, I made sure to have Josh lay down on the gurney and explore the ambulance and point out that if he doesn’t stop doing stupid thing and start wearing protective gear while he works he will end up in the back on one, one day. He laughed it off, but I was being serious. ALWAYS WEAR SAFETY GEAR while working on home improvement projects kiddos!!!

There was so much more to do there they had a rock wall, a nature exhibit, a bubble thing were you could put yourself inside a soap bubble all sorts of cool hands on science experiment thing ma boobs. It was a great way to kill a couple hours and for next to little cash! OOOOOO I forgot to mention the best part!!! Yea that’s right they have a Penny Pressing machine, I got 4 pennies to add to my collection. WOOT WOOT!!! I love me some pressed pennies!!!! On to the next adventure…………