Detroit Week Day 1: Things To Do Part 1

I have been planning for awhile now to dedicate an entire week to the city I spent my summer in (Detroit). My time here has been short, but sweet. Joshua raved about Detroit for an entire year since his internship with Chrysler ended last summer. I am going to admit that I was not only skeptical about moving to Detroit, but down right scared. I remember only a few short months ago apartment shopping with Josh and his parents and not wanting to even drive down 8 mile. I, like most people, have a preconceived notion that Detroit is the worst place on Earth (YOU WILL GET SHOT IF YOU GO THERE)-maybe not this drastic. 

{picture via Metromade}

Now that we are moving to Louisville, Kentucky I wanted to take the ENTIRE week to show the good side of Detroit. I hope I am able to change at least a few minds about this city that is so underestimated. 

So before we get this thing started this is the breakdown of my week...

Monday:
Things To Do Part 1

Tuesday:
Things To Do Part 2 (Because there is just that much to do. This will mainly focus on all things car related, lets be real I do live in the Motor City)

Wednesday:
Places To Live (This is the tricky part about Detroit, so I want to make sure anyone planning to move here does it right)

Thursday:
Places To Drink (A huge part of Josh and I is our love for breweries, wineries, and nightlife)

Friday:
Places To Eat (This will be true to my Five on Friday tradition and do our Five favorite places to eat, I could list 1000s of places to eat so this will be difficult for me) 


Interested?...well lets begin! Since I already rambled SO much I am not going to go into much detail about each place to visit, just trust me when I say they are worth it! (PRE-WARNING THIS IS VERY PICTURE HEAVY!)

DIA (Detroit Institute of Arts- {pictures via DIA}

One thing I love about this city is the historic buildings, they add so much character.

If the outside doesn't make you want to visit, the inside will knock your socks off.

The entire structure is gorgeous.

Detroit Historical Museum- {all pictures via Detroit Historical Museum}

The outside.

The bottom level of the museum takes you back in time...as you walk through the floor changes as the era changes (from a brick road to wood to actual tree pieces). The shops can be walked through and there are lots of interactive items. 

There is an interactive train set. 

There is even a Kid Rock Section (Since he is from Michigan)

Belle Isle- {all picture via Belle Island}

You take a bridge to get to the island (you can see it in the picture below) And throughout the Isle is tons of different things to do!

This a sky-view of Belle Isle.

Beautiful fountain at the center of the Isle.

Here is an aquarium and an area to walk through all sorts of plants.

A BEACH! This is unheard of in MI! It's not exactly what I consider a beach, but it was nice to see sand and water next to each other when I was missing home. 

There is also an area to see some cute creatures!

Fireworks- {video via personal video}

Detroit has some of the best fireworks around. It brings about a million people into the city to watch! 

Casino/Greektown- {pictures via Greektown Casino}

Downtown Greektown. 

Greektown Casino.

And lets not forget I hit it BIG here once.

Detroit Tigers- {pictures via Detroit Tigers Website}

You might remember Josh and I visiting the stadium right downtown and having a blast!

Fox Theater- {picture via personal photo}

This is possibly the coolest theater I have EVER seen. It has so much history and character. Josh and I never got around to seeing anything here, but every time we pass it we always say how we need too! Click HERE to see what shows they have coming up. 

Detroit Zoo- {pictures via Detroit Zoo}

{picture via family photo}

This is us before going into the Zoo.

Josh and I on top, his sister (Megan and her boyfriend Aron) on bottom.

I'm not going to lie to you, this is a zoo its not the worlds best zoo, it is just a regular run of the mill zoo. It was a VERY fun family day, HUGE, and had lots of exhibits. 

So cute!

Hey look... a Detroit Tiger (I'm so corny!)

I could literally go on for days and days about all the things you can do it Detroit, but lucky for you I will only go on for one more day, so tune in tomorrow for day 2 of Things To Do in Detroit. I hope you are all or (ya'll for those of you who live in the South) are enjoying Detroit Week. 

Weekend Recap

Happy Monday all! I have been non-stop busy the last couple days, leaving no time for blogging. Although I worked all weekend Joshua and I decided that we were not going to let that stop us from having an awesome weekend. Saturday Josh picked me up from work and we headed two hours up north to Grand Rapids, MI! We only stayed the night up their since I had to be back at work at 3 on Sunday, but it made my weekend seem so much longer!

{picture via personal photo}

We were excited to be on our way!

{picture via personal photo}

We couldn't leave without making stupid faces!

{picture via personal photo}

The real reason for the trip was to visit Josh's favorite brewery. Founders!

Doesn't he look so happy with his beer?

{picture via personal photo}

They had some of the best beer/food we have ever had!

{picture via personal photo}

Snapped this picture when I realized it really is starting to be Fall (mine and Josh's favorite time of year). How gorgeous are all these different colored trees.

{picture via personal photo}

Before we left for our trip we did a little shopping.

I am obsessed with these shoes Josh picked up. 

You can get them here for only $59! They run true to size.

{picture via AE}

click the link to see the entire pant!

I got a pair of knit jeggings in this color (so out of my normal comfort zone)

{picture via personal photo}

Sorry for the blurry picture? Not sure what happened. But I adore this shirt I found. It's hunter green with a sheer back and you can kind of see the lace that covers the top of the front of the shirt. I got it with my awesome discount at AE. 

I loved having the alone time with my amazing boyfriend and being able to have fun even though I worked all weekend. Have a great day everyone! My week of Detroit love starts later today too so make sure you check out all things great about Detroit!

DIY: Bobby Pins

I have noticed myself wearing a ton of bobby pins lately (finally trying new hairstyles) so I searched for a way to sass them up a little. I found this picture on Pinterest and decided to give it a try. The hardest part was picking which colors I wanted my bobby pins to be. Bobby pins are incredibly cheap, in fact I grabbed an entire box from the dollar store. I slide the pins onto a sheet of paper and went to town painting them. I let them dry for hours just in case, because multiple needed lots of coats. I tried to pick the colors that were really bright and I knew didn't usually need lots of coats on my nails.  

{picture via Your Fairy Godmother} 

I'm sure you can buy colored bobby pins almost everywhere, but I had fun doing it and choosing my colors. 

DIY: Fake Flower Art

I have been craving a good DIY project lately. I want to do something simple to boost my DIY ego. I found this really cute craft...

{picture via My House My Home}

I think this would be a perfect gift and SO simple! Now to find a place to put it.

And the best news on Earth (well maybe that's an over exaggeration) their is a Hobby Lobby, Jo Ann Fabric, and Michaels all in Louisville. I feel like one lucky girl! 

Get these Michaels coupons HERE

Weekend Fun!

I know I promised an update on my weekend yesterday, but things happen. Basically it was a weekend full of drinking good beer, relaxing, and touring the city! We made a trip to Dragonmead (my favorite Detroit Brewer), Bell's Brewery (which I had never been too), The Baltimore (which is a bar from the new TV show about Detroit, called Low Winter Sun), touring Greek Town, and the highlight of my weekend was The Gilmore Museum that we visited Sunday. I want to give a warning that my boyfriend is a car guy and this makes for many trips to car museums and car shows. I'm a good sport most of the time, but The Gilmore Museum was actually SO much fun...but if this isn't your thing stop reading now! The museum has about 12 buildings to tour through, they are mostly barns that are restored. You walk on paths throughout the land and tour through the buildings at your own leisure. 

{all pictures via personal photos}

These are the pictures from our Sunday trip to The Gilmore Museum. 

I have a thing for all things vintage including cars!

I loved this 50's outfit! So classy!

These are old hood ornaments for the front of a persons car.

This would be the most beautiful place to get married. 

They had a tour bus!

Josh climbed up inside and I snapped a shot.

I adored this little scooter!

They even had a functional vintage diner! The women inside talked and dressed in period appropriate clothing.

I loved all the little scenes they had set up and the oldies music they played through the buildings.

Josh loves AMCs (A car company that went out of business) The Hudson section was one of his favorite parts.

I badly want one of these old campers!

Isn't this the cutest little car! It's a metropolitan.

This is one of the buildings on the property.

How cool...this old car pulling an old camper!

At first he started out cute just waving then...

This happened! He's such a goofball :) But isn't this barn cool!

Another little scene set up to show an old school room!

Old school bus, those kids went to school in style!

I want Josh to get an old hat like this!

Then after we left the museum we headed to Bell's Brewery and the inside was so cool...that is an old train rail!