Jennifer's 365 Project

The Eastown Street Fair was happening today so Chris and I popped over to check it out. Eastown itself is a small pocket in Grand Rapids and the fair was just a portion of that so it was only about a few blocks long. But there were a lot of people and the streets were stuffed with white-tented booths, selling various crafts and creations. It reminds me a bit of the Ann Arbor Street Art Fair, but much much smaller and with a lot more crafts  instead of such a heavy focus on fine art.

I also went into Yesterdog for the first time ever. It's a hot dog shop in Eastown that specializes in hot dogs. Since I don't really like hot dogs, I never had a reason to go in before. But Chris is a fan so we went in and the place is certainly a different feel. The staff were amusing and friendly, the store is decorated with retro signs for coca-cola and other things.
We weren't the far from East Grand Rapids so when we were done at the street fair we headed over to see if anything was going on and to check out Jersey Junction for some ice cream. Its a cute little shop with ice cream and a candy store designed to look like the old fashioned candy shops.

They also have a train that loops around the store up by the ceiling, though it was not running when we stopped by.

Thick clouds over downtown Grand Rapids this morning.

After all the driving and running around yesterday looking at wedding venues, Chris and I decided to take a more leisurly approach to Sunday.

We hung out a bit in the morning and in the afternoon we headed out to Gaslight Village for a quick bite to eat and a short stroll. There's a free-standing Olga's Kitchen so we ate there. Yes, I've been there dozens of times, I know. But every time I think of Northland Center and my little brother insisting on a side of Olga bread.

I've never actually walked through the area, and it's not very big so it's easy to miss. Gaslight Village is a small cluster of shops and - you guessed it - gas lights. It's only a few blocks long on Wealthy Street near Reeds Lake and the local high school and library.

It's a cute little area complete with their own chocolate shop (Mary Ann's Chocolates), which we made a point of visiting.

Tuesday always has the potential for a movie night at Wealthy Theatre.  This week they were showing the cult-classic The Big Lebowski, which Chris had never seen.  So after work we got a quick bite to eat and headed to Eastown/East Grand Rapids to walk around and enjoy the weather before the movie started.

Tonight Wealthy Theatre is playing a great movie - Star Trek II.  So Chris and I headed down to the theatre, slightly earlier than the last few times to ensure decent seating and not having to wait in line too long.  Still, it's great to see more people coming to the theatre, enjoying the atmosphere and great movies.

The theatre was in a very Star Trek mood, playing music from the movie prior to it playing and using a Spock stamp for hand-stamping.

Apparently, they were even serving Romulan Ale.

There is a park close to my work that I've decided I am going to start trying to visit more often.  They've got a walking path, some disc golf, and play structures.  Really I'm interested in taking a walk on lunch and getting out of the office.  With the sun shining and the weather getting warmer it is increasingly harder and harder to concentrate - even if my back is to the windows at my desk.

So I took a stroll, shot a video playing around on my phone, and listened to some podcasts. Good lunch. Looking forward to making it a regular thing.  I will probably start using my SLR as well.

Anyway it's Tuesday which means there is the distinct possibility of going to East Grand Rapids and watching a movie at Wealthy Theatre!  As you can see, that is precisely what we did.

The Wealthy Theatre in East Grand Rapids is pretty awesome.  They play some pretty cool movies on Tuesday evenings and today was no different.

Tonight Spaceballs was playing, and if you've never seen it I'd recommend watching it.  It's a great parody film of late 70's/early 80's sci-fi films such as Alien and Star Wars.  I've always enjoyed the movie, though admittedly the ending part at the diner scared me to death as a kid, as I watched Spaceballs before ever seing Alien (of course that meant Alien wasn't all that scary anymore when I did :D).

The theatre was more packed (kind of hard to tell on the video) that I'd ever seen it before, and the audience more engaged with laughter.

I look forward to the next awesome Tuesday night movie!

Tuesday started off ok. I had a frustrating project that needed tackling at work in the AM and by the PM I was in desperate need of chocolate.

Day one of unemployment started out with job searches, working on my research paper, and a few other things. I ran the roomba for a bit to clean (not that it really needs to clean but its good to get the cat used to it). I also finally made the focaccia recipe Varvara (friend of Chris' from Russia) gave to me. She was even kind enough to translate it from Russian to English and metric to US customary units.

The day ended with Chris, as most days do. I cooked dinner and we headed out to Wealthy Theatre to watch the cheesy 80's movie, The Howling. The theatre is older and pretty awesome to chill in. I was impressed and the pics don't do it justice.

After class, and in spite of the threat of rain, I went hiking at Siedman Park. I had intended to go through all the loops, but spent too much time messing around with my camera taking photos and realized I had been there for 3+ hours and needed to get back. So you will probably be seeing more shots from there later down the road.

Here's a shot of some fungus growing on a tree. If you're interested in more shots, you can find them here: Siedman Park

Recently I started using Flickr more and joined a bunch of groups - one of which was a Grand Rapids photography group.

Well, one of the moderators proposed an instructional photowalk to go over some of the basics of camera settings, some composition techniques, etc. And, being noobish in my camera and especially composition (as was pointed out by a friend of mine - and he's right) I thought I should attend.

The walk was pretty helpful. Although I knew the basics on my camera for settings etc, its always helpful to have someone give you their perspective, or explain something in a way that maybe clicks better than what you'd read or been told elsewhere.

All in all the walk was a lot of fun. I didnt really manage to remember names - which is pretty bad. But listening to people talk and seeing how they shoot is helpful when you're learning yourself.

So here's a shot of one of Michigan's season. If you're interested in more shots from the event: 23rd July Photo Walk