And now a quick recap of our weekend in Michigan!

We left bright and early Saturday morning and drove up to Michigan. Our first stop of the day was South Haven where we visited Papyrus and Renaissance. These shops are actually both in one building and they're the reason my mom and i visit South Haven. We also stopped by a few other shops, including Black River Books VERY disorganized. The shelves are way too close together so you couldn't really relax and look at books because you were so busy trying to stay out of people's way!

Then we moved onto Saugatuck. We were planning on stopping at a few stores,

but there was some sort of festival going on so we couldn't find any parking! We did stop at a really cool store on our way out of town. It's called Amsterdam (Get it? Cause it's close to Holland...) and it's basically an old barn full of all kinds of random stuff. There were piles of dishes, old signs, a coffin (eww...), a huge wooden bear, and even a huge crucified Christ who was missing his right arm. We didn't buy anything (I know, you definitely thought the crucified Christ would fit into our decorating scheme for our apartment!), but we had a great time looking at everything!

Then it was on to Holland! I haven't been back since the summer after Andrew graduated, so it was good to be back! Our first stop was the 8th Street Grille where we ate their fabulous chicken corn chowder. After lunch, we went to a few of the shops on 8th Street and then attempted to go take pictures at the anchor and in the chapel, but the grass around the anchor had just been replanted so we couldn't get to it and there was a wedding going on in the chapel. Oh well! After that, we thought we'd complete our Holland experience by grabbing some cider at The Brewery, but they didn't have any! Instead we headed over to Lemonjello's. Oh how i've missed their coffee!

On Sunday, we woke up and drove to McBain, where a ton of Andrew's family lives. We drove around for a few minutes and saw all of the farms. Then we went to the church where the bridal shower was being held. It was a fun time! I managed to remember the names of all of Andrew's aunts and didn't confuse any of them, which is a feat in itself considering there are six of them! After the shower, we went to Andrew's Uncle Jon and Aunt Mary's farm! They have about 100 cows and 50 cats so you know i loved every minute of it! There were two twin cows that were only a few weeks old that would let you pet them and would suck on your fingers. They were so cute! After our time on the farm, we went to Grandma Taylor's house and hung out for a few minutes before heading down to Flushing to spend the night at Andrew's dad's.

On Monday, we spent the day with Anna and explored exciting downtown Flushing. It was great to get to see her and spend some time with her. Hopefully she'll be able to come down a few days before the wedding so we can spend even more time together!

Overall, it was a fabulous weekend and a much needed break from the pre-wedding/pre-school stress i've been living in lately. Now it's back to the real world. I have one week left before i go back to school and i have a bunch of stuff to get done, though this lovely weather outside my window is not encouraging me to do anything other than sit on the couch, watch tv, and read blogs. Who wants to go outside when it's downpouring?