Afternoon in Clarkston

Good afternoon! While we are on the subject, I wanted to share a great afternoon Scott and I had with his mother on Sunday.

With an extremely late bed time Saturday after Opening Night, we were all in favor of sleeping in later than usual and hanging around the house for a lazy Sunday morning.

We pulled ourselves together and got ready to head out for church about a quarter to Noon. I am so very thankful for 12:15 p.m. services. It’s nice to have a full Sunday morning of relaxing every once in a while!

A big part of the service was about the up and coming campus in Clarkston that will launch in Fall 2015. Scott and I have only been to that area once, but we loved it.

After church, we wanted to show Becky around the area and decided that Clarkston sounded like the perfect destination for lunch.

We took her to the Union Woodshop which always has great reviews! Expecting a long wait time, we were pleased to hear we had 20-30 minutes and took that time to wander the street and shops around the restaurant.

Clarkston has a very quaint and small town feel to it.

Everyone we ran into was extremely friendly, and we could tell that the community of the village and people living close by is strong. I love that!

We spent most of our wait time directly next door at a charming women’s clothing boutique called Frank and Me. They had an adorable line of clothing and accessories, but I mostly enjoyed looking over their collection of candles, trinkets and decorations with funny sayings.

Our buzzer went off sooner than we expected, so we hurried over back to Union Woodshop and sat at our big booth for three.

It was so cozy right there by the window.

And no, we did not plan to be the flannel and puffy vest couple sitting together. That happens every now and then since we both like wearing flannel and puffy vests. What’cha gonna do?

Although I had plenty of scrumptious barbeque options to choose from on their menu, I went for something on the lighter and green side. My stomach appreciated the gesture after we started with an order of Scott’s favorite: fried pickle spears.

Scott ordered one of their delicious pulled pork sandwiches topped in slaw, which I happily took a bite or two of.

I went with a grilled shrimp salad with a side of sweet potato mash.

Holy cow was that mash good! I need more of it in my life… like right now.

We had a great conversation including funny stories from Scott’s childhood and laughed the whole way through.

I just love when we get quality time with family up here.

We skipped dessert and walked down the street to the Union General Store & Cupcakery instead.

It’s owned by the same company as Union Woodshop so it had to be good!

We didn’t end up getting dessert, but we did order a round of coffees and enjoyed walking through the store while admiring all the knickknacks. I love little stores like this and Clarkston is filled with them!

Can you believe it’s already time for the holiday displays?

That festive tree was in KH Home, another store I want one of everything from. I’m not going to lie… being in furniture and home decorating stores like this brought on some serious house envy.

We currently rent our condo, and love it, but it’s definitely for now.

It’s more like a townhouse with the furnished basement and garage, but for the first time in a long time Scott and I are starting to talk about the idea of moving forward and dabbling in the big “h” talk again.

Even if it’s just talk, it’s comforting. We’ve wanted to get out of renting and into paying towards something we own since we got married! With the move and getting used to our new state of residency, it just hasn’t seemed like the right time until now.

Scary? Maybe. Scarier than Scott in a frou-frou mask? Maybe not.

I think actually getting out and exploring our new city(ies) has helped me adjust to living in the Midwest quite a bit. Over the course of the last six months, I have discovered that there really are great spots to see and areas to live in up here in Michigan.

Every time we get a visitor from one of our hometowns, we get to take them around our favorite finds and re-explore with them. Scott’s mom loved it and kept saying “Detroit” is nothing at all what she pictured!

Who would have thought.

Well, I better get going. I’ll be back with more stories and a (super fun and spooky) birthday dinner recap tomorrow morning.

Enjoy the rest of your Tuesday!