Grand Rapids

Spent last week working in Grand Rapids, Michigan. It was beautiful there this time of year. Everything is lush and green. Unfortunately for me, it was also humid. My complexion doesn't get along well with humidity. Things went well from a work standpoint and it was a successful trip.

I shared a car with a coworker so I didn't get to explore much farther than walking distance from the hotel. Though, on Tuesday evening I drove to downtown and went to the Grand Rapids Public Museum. It's a lovely little museum celebrating the history of Grand Rapids and this part of Michigan. The collections were fascinating even though I rushed through it in about an hour before they closed.

This part of Michigan is known for the furniture industry, which GR was pretty much founded upon. It still has at least one large furniture company here - Steelcase. GR is also the birthplace of Amway so there was a large section of the museum about the company. Another fascinating fact is that in the 60's, GR tore down it's old city hall building, which was designed by the same architect who did the Texas capital building. Such a sad choice for GR and one I'm sure people regret today. I also learned that Petoskey Stone is the state's official stone and is beautiful. It was a really fun evening to get out of the hotel and learn some new things. I especially enjoyed these chairs in the museum.

I walked around downtown a little bit after the museum. After all, it doesn't get dark until almost 10pm here. I stumbled upon hundreds of people dancing in a park. It was such a fun thing to watch! Turns out the GR Original Swing Society puts the event on every Tuesday. It was quite fun to watch.

Early in the week I read the book, Move A Little, Lose A Lot. Big thanks to Roxie, who mentioned it. The premise of the book is that many of us spend too much time sitting and not enough time moving around. I know this is my problem and why I currently weigh more than I should. The author puts together a plan to get you moving more without making you commit to an unsustainable exercise program. I am inspired me to walk more! So I walked a lot last week and really enjoyed it. Here are a couple pictures from my walks.

Left Grand Rapids on Friday and met Chris in Los Angeles for the weekend. Back in Phoenix now. Funny thing is I'm going back to LA in the middle of the week for work. Looking forward to a long weekend over July 4th and just hanging out at home with Chris and the dogs.