What I am thankful for in Ann Arbor...

My friends at Damn Arbor inspired this post....there's lots to complain about in this town - what with it's snobby know-it-all intellectualism.   But that's been done before, let me tell you what I love about it.

1.  Zingerman's.   Yes, you heard me right....I said it....Zingerman's.  We locals are supposed to hate the place, but I don't.  It's my our tourist attraction, and rightly so.  Where else would you take out of town visitors?   The bottom line is this - their bread is really good....if you are looking for some obscure cheese, they have it.....you need 17 kinds of olive oil?  They've got it for you.   Plus their customer service is the tops.

2.  The college students.   Yes, I laugh at your beer pong and your walk of shame home with your T shirt on backwards and inside out early Saturday morning and your lame attempts at grocery shopping (i.e. are Spaghetti-os vegetarian?).  But I like your energy and as a parent I hope you are all getting a great education and will soon be gainfully employed.  Enough said!

3.  SELMA....it's how I spend every Friday morning.   It's uniquely A2.

4.  Bier Camp   Locally made sausage and smoked meat.  It's so good and I am glad I found it.

5.  Morgan & York.  The best wine store I have ever been into in my life.    And the cheese rocks, too.

6.  The Ann Arbor Farmer's Market.   It's open year round.  Seriously.  Year round.  Even in the dead of winter.  It's how I am going to totally rock the Dark Days Challenge. 

7. Dexter  My mailing address says Ann Arbor, but my heart lies in Dexter.  Remember the "Cheers" song?  Sometimes you want to go where everybody knows your name?  Well,  everyone knows my name in Dexter.   It's where I shop, I go to church, where the kids go to school, where my parents are buried and it's 8 miles west of Ann Arbor and it's really where my heart is.   If you're from Dexter, you know me.  As a girl from a big city.  I like that....a  lot.