Blog catch-up ~ Michigan

When I was in the US earlier this month I spent a long weekend in Michigan.  I had a great time hanging out with both family and friends. 

My mom is always awesome about babysitting my nephews so the kids (well...her kids since none of us are anywhere near kid age any longer) can hang out together.  Amy, Karie, Alan (bro), Jeff, and I had a nice dinner together.  I'm always so thankful that we all get along and have fun together.  I was able to get a recent picture of us Hogg kids...

On Saturday I was lucky enough to have some friends take me to some of their favorite spots in downtown Detroit.  Now, I'm sure that your first reaction is why on earth would you want to hang out in Detroit?  Well...let me tell you...it was bustling with activity.  There was a winter festival going on and there were tons of people wandering around.  It certainly has some room to grow but if you live in the area I strongly encourage you to head downtown Detroit to do a bit of exploring.

I spent most of the afternoon in Detroit with my friend Tina.  She is an artist and took me to some great places to take pictures.  Oh...we started the afternoon at the Woodbridge Pub (http://www.woodbridgepub.com/) on Trumbull.  If you want some great food it is worth stopping there. 

We started our photography expedition at the now abandoned Michigan Central Station. 

This is an amazing building and it is such a shame that it has been left to ruin.  I would love to get inside of it and wander around to imagine what it was like when it was an active station.

Just across the street from the MCS are these abandoned houses...

They are part of a project that the nonprofit group Imagination Station are working on.  The amazing thing to me is that these houses literally face the old MCS.  Can you imagine waking up every morning and seeing that building out your front window?  And just imagine all of the people they saw come and go...arriving in Detroit from all over the place...so cool.

From there we headed to the main part of the city and met up with two other friends.  We wandered around a bit...although it was quite windy and pretty cold...but I got to see how much has changed and how the city is really working hard to revitalize itself.  We also got to see the sun starting to set over the Detroit River...

A few other shots from around Detroit...

I had a great time seeing the city but the thing I enjoyed the most was just hanging out with Tina, Cris, and Cherie...

I had a lot of fun with everybody I was able to spend time with while in Michigan.   My trips there always go by so fast and I never seem to have enough time...but...I am always thankful for the time I do get.

And...I got to traipse around in the snow...wear a winter coat, scarf, hat, mittens, thick socks...and I even got to see a bit of snow falling on Saturday night!

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Hit the ground running

My travel back to Singapore was pretty uneventful.  I arrived mid-day on Wednesday and stayed awake until I made the mistake of relaxing on the sofa for 'just a few minutes'...  Somehow, 5:30 pm magically became 10:00 pm...whoops!  I woke up long enough to get myself to bed.

Thursday was busy at work and then I went to dinner with a friend who was in from the US.  Then on Friday, after another busy work day, I met my good friend Elisabeth and we hung out until I took her to the airport this morning.  We had a whirlwind visit and it was so wonderful having her here. 

Here are a few of the things we did...
-curry puffs (yummy goodness)
-Little India
-Buddhist temple...

-Hindu temple...

-enjoying a refreshing beer in Chinatown...

-shopping in Chinatown for the perfect gift
-enjoying a relaxing foot massage
-visiting the Marina Bay area to look at the Merlion only to find the Merlion under renovation
-enjoying the skyline...

-finishing the evening with satay and Tiger beer at La Pau Sat.

It was a great visit!

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One month later...

Okay, I admit it to you...and now I just need to admit it to myself...I am horrible about blogging when I am home in the US.  Alan is always good about reminding me to blog and then the day just gets away from me.  I could blame it on work or on being too busy visiting friends or getting sucked into US television or shopping at Target...but...does it really matter?  The answer is nope...not at all.

So, I'm now headed back to Singapore and will try and blog a bit more frequently.  My job is really busy these days so I may not get to blog as frequently as I'd like but I will certain commit to doing it more than just once a month.

I have a few topics to catch-up on from my visit home and will do so in the near future.  In the meantime, I spent this morning touring Alcatraz and feel like this is an appropriate photo...

I've just put myself in blogger jail for not blogging enough...

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