To be honest, I hate New Years resolutions. People never keep ‘em, so why bother? But alas, I think I have come up with attainable ones, albeit small. And I’m keeping it to three, because this way if I do even one then that’s a 33% success rate and even though that’s technically failing, it’s better than the 10% success rate I normally have with resolutions. 1. COFFEE. I will write someone from either Starbucks or Caribou (yes, dreaded large worldwide coffee corporations that I am extremely addicted to) and ask beg then to bring a store to Monroe. If you too are addicted to coffee you are welcome to join me in the crusade. Maybe I’ll even buy you a machiatto when they open up! 2. HOLIDAY DECORATIONS. I will continue to buy massive amounts of holiday decorations so I can keep up with my neighbors and that house next to St. Anne’s on Dixie. (Really, they are amazing!). And because I’ve recently discovered that electricity is cheaper in Monroe than in most places, I won’t worry about leaving my Christmas lights up extra long or late at night. Personally, I want a giant Santa on a motorcycle by this time next year. 3. BULLDOGS. I want to find other bulldog owners in the area (hint, hint). And then have an email group and play dates. How cute – many bullies playing together! I’ll even host it. I’m most worried about this goal, though, because bullies around here seem elusive. Our vet claims to see 3 or 4 a day but we never see them; plus there’s the one in our neighborhood that we’ve only seen twice since we moved in.
Bonus resolution: continue to learn my way around Monroe – people, shop, restaurant, and resource-wise. I’d like to get involved in volunteering around here, preferably using my diminishing Spanish skills. So help me resolve! Hold me accountable, join me in my crusades. And by all means, comment if you can help!
There’s a Starbucks inside the new Kroger in Point Place on Suder, and there’s a Caribou in the Westfield Shopping Center on Monroe. Of course, these are both in the Toledo area, but at least they’re fairly accessible.
Learning the Monroe & Toledo areas is something I’ve been doing for a couple years now. It’s quite a bit of fun to intentionally take a ‘wrong turn’ and see what’s there. Here’s my latest one: What’s east of I-75 at exit 11? The west side of the expressway is the manufacturer’s outlets. I told my wife I’d made a turn to the east and what I’d found, and she, a Monroe County native, said, “Really? Wow, I never knew that!”
What’s east of I-75? could be a whole book, you know.
I was bored one summer in high school and I was miffed that even though I lived right next to a great lake, all I’d ever really seen of it was the beach at Sterling State Park and the little pier at Bolles Harbor.
So, I bought a plat book from the extension center on Raisinville and a Delorme backroad atlas and tried to find some other routes to the lake.
There are many.
The two best views in all of Monroe County for my money are – Pointe Mouillee State Game Area from the eastern tip of the “banana” and the southeast corner of the Consumer’s Energy Erie plant dike system looking towards Turtle Island.
I especially like Pointe Mouillee when it is zero degrees out in winter and I know that the wind has come all the way from Cleveland:)
Oh, one more thing. I’ve got a very good friend who teaches Spanish at Dundee High School. She’s been running Spanish classes for local law enforcement agencies. There is just a huge market for this. If you know Spanish well and are a teacher, you might try thinking about this as a possible side business with community benefits.
Mike
I love Starbucks and Caribou but I also love Beaners. I’ve signed up for to get their emails and just about once a week I get a coupon in my inbox for buy one get free or half off. Can’t beat it! The people there are really nice, they have a frequet buys card (which we fill up quite often) and they have trivia on the back wall. Get the trivia question right and get another stamp on your frequet buyers card.
S
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