Month: August 2019

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Checking out the new SMASH: A Nuclear Adventure exhibit at Impression 5

Our family loves visiting the Impression 5 Science Center in downtown Lansing. We’ve enjoyed a membership and two summers’ worth of summer camps for Stella over the years, and it continues to be a favorite place to spend time exploring and learning. It feels like we discover something new each time we visit, especially as the girls are getting older.

I was very excited to be invited by Kate Snyder of Piper & Gold to visit Impression 5 this month and learn more about its newest exhibit, SMASH: A Nuclear Adventure. This interactive exhibit is located on the second level, next to the Spectrum room, and allows visitors to experience the wonder of nuclear science.

The exhibit helps illustrate the research happening right down the street at Michigan State University at the National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory and in the years to come at MSU’s Facility for Rare Isotope Beams (FRIB). At SMASH, visitors can smash atoms, create rare isotopes, and observe cosmic rays.

While I missed the media preview earlier this month due to our trip, I was graciously given the chance to visit Impression 5 with the girls when we were back home. With Stella having the day off for Labor Day weekend, it seemed like a great chance to check out the new exhibit (and of course visit old favorites) soon after its grand opening.

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I love Paris: Hiring a professional photographer to capture our trip

Just a few days ago, we returned home from our 10th wedding anniversary trip to Paris. After months of Googling, planning, organizing, and dreaming about this amazing vacation, it is now the stuff of wonderful memories.

In addition to getting reacclimated to Eastern Standard Time and preparing for our daughter’s first week of school, my mind has been swimming with how I can and should document our Paris trip for this blog. Daily recaps, categories, photo posts? I feel like I have so much to share, tips and anecdotes and hand-me-down recommendations from friends and family that turned out to be golden.

I wasn’t sure where to start, but this seems like a good way to do it. I want to write about how hiring a professional photographer to capture our trip was one of the best things we’ve ever done.

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The Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island has a secret garden and it’s magical

Last week, we took our first family trip up to Mackinac Island to enjoy a couple of nights of horse clip-clops, views of Lake Huron, and of course fudge. I remember going to Mackinac Island as a kid, but I became especially enamored of time spent on the island when Zack and I stayed at The Grand Hotel for MSU Arts Weekend two summers in a row.

  • That time I matched The Grand’s wallpaper

There is nothing like The Grand Hotel. When you’re there, it really feels like you’re going back in time, floating in its dreamy, Dorothy Draper-swathed universe. The service is impeccable, as are the grounds surrounding the hotel.

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Prepping for Paris: Put on your walking shoes

It’s wild to think that Zack and I are coming up on our 10th wedding anniversary (and 15 years together), which means we’re so close to our special trip to Paris. This will be our second visit to the City of Light.

The first time was during our study abroad trips to London in 2005; Zack and I had been dating for just under a year and had the good fortune of doing overlapping programs. We traveled to Paris with my parents for a long weekend when they came to visit us in London.

I had been taking French since sixth grade and always wanted to visit Paris one day. We packed a lot into a short amount of time, but I have been dreaming about going back for another visit. It feels like there are so many more resources available for planning a trip, from Airbnb to TripAdvisor to recommendations from friends and family. There is so much we didn’t see!

We’ve been spending the last several months making reservations and booking experiences for our trip. And, in the last month or so, I’ve been working on some of the practical things, like buying outlet converters and ordering our Paris Museum Passes.

But one of the biggest things I had to work on was having comfortable, stylish, and practical walking shoes.

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